China Telecom network makes US biz, travel easier

With headquarters in Herndon, Virginia, and offices in eight cities in the United States and Canada, China Telecom Americas is on the path to rapid growth.

"It is expected that our revenue will double this year, compared to 2014," said Joe Han, president of CTA, the wholly owned North American-based subsidiary of China Telecom that has been in the US for 15 years. "The major context in the thriving of our business is the opportunities that have emerged from the dynamic trade and investment between China and the US."

With the rapid growth of foreign direct investment between China and the US, more and more companies need comprehensive telecom and IT solutions and connections for their US, China and global operations.

Licensed to sell domestic China telecommunication services in the Americas, CTA is an international telecom provider of data, IP and voice services to multinational enterprises, carriers, Internet service providers, content providers and companies with operations and applications in the Asia-Pacific region.

CTA established three data centers in Los Angeles and Santa Clara, California, in the past few years. The firm said the move demonstrates its determination and ability to provide a locally based, one-stop, turn-key solution for everything from network and equipment management to system integration and much more.

"Our data centers in the US have been serving the Chinese companies who have gone to invest there," Han said, "Especially the Internet industry, which has been very active in investing in the US and has become a new growing force."

Han said Internet traffic between China and US has been growing at a rate of above 30 percent annually and there has been a rapid rise in applications.

With this expansion, China Telecom provides a larger network to its customers for delivering online and mobile marketplace solutions across the US.

"It was critical to find a provider that could be trusted to deliver a scalable and reliable combination of space, power and connectivity for our partner's expanding US business," Han said.

By building, continuously expanding and operating the technologically advanced suite of telecommunication services in support of clients' operations, CTA has customized solutions for companies in numerous industries.

These include hospitality, content and media, manufacturing, telecommunications, global consulting and software development.

Individuals and businesses

As well as thriving in the business-to-business market, CTA is also starting to enlarge its base of individual customers. On May 8, CTA launched its mobile business in the US.

"Our user group will be very diversified. The number of our users used to be in the hundreds, but after launching the mobile business we are expecting to have tens of thousands of users. The number of users is expected to exceed 10,000 by the end of the year. Our goal for the next two to three years is to reach 100,000 and our further goal is millions of users," Han said.

"The context in which we launched the mobile business is that there are about 300,000 international students from China in the United States. Tourists who travel across the two countries are about 3 million and the number is still growing. Not to mention the fast growing number of Chinese Americans," Han said.

He added that the services expanded beyond China would allow Chinese people to live, travel and do business easily in both countries.

"The network we are using is the same as US service providers. What we emphasize is the market differentiation. We provide services that are convenient for Chinese people. For example, we make full use of the platforms that the Chinese favor and are accustomed to using, such as Alipay and WeChat," Han said.

"It is very common to run into all kinds of challenges when doing business in a foreign country. It is about understanding the market, what you are going to do to beat the competition, how you are going to keep your costs at a lower level and make sure you obey the laws and rules in this country," he said.

"One thing that our industry has been concerned about is how the US government treats issues of information security. This is a problem that is faced by many governments in the world because the rules are still not very clear," Han said.

CTA said market expectations for 2016 are optimistic and the company hopes to seize opportunities brought about by the active trade and investment between China and the US.

The firm plans to focus on market segmentation, such as the Internet, manufacturing and finance.

"We expect to increase our employment in the US year by year. We are aiming at hiring up to 160 employees in the US by the end of the year," Han said.

zhuanti@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 09/24/2015 page24)