China Telecom Corp. Ltd. (simplified Chinese: 中国电信集团公司, 中国电信) is a Chinese state-owned telecommunication company. It is the largest fixed line service and 3rd largest mobile telecommunication provider in the
People's Republic of ChinaChina , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
.
Sectors
The company provides fixed-line and Xiaolingtong (
Personal Handy-phone SystemThe Personal Handy-phone System , also marketed as the Personal Access System and commercially branded as Xiaolingtong in China, is a mobile network system operating in the 1880–1930 MHz frequency band, used mainly in Japan, China, Taiwan, and some other Asian countries and...
) telephone services to 216 million subscribers as of April 2008, and broadband internet access to over 38 million subscribers, providing approximately 62% (46 Gb/s) of China's internet bandwidth. On June 2, 2008, China Telecom announced that it would purchase
China UnicomChina Unicom or China United Netcom Ltd , is a Chinese state-owned telecommunications operator in the People's Republic of China.-History:...
's nationwide CDMA business and assets for 110 billion RMB, giving it 43 million mobile subscribers. On 7 January 2009, China Telecom was awarded CDMA 2000 license to expand its business to
3G3G or 3rd generation mobile telecommunications is a generation of standards for mobile phones and mobile telecommunication services fulfilling the International Mobile Telecommunications-2000 specifications by the International Telecommunication Union...
telecommunication.
The company was formerly a
state-ownedA government-owned corporation, state-owned company, state-owned entity, state enterprise, publicly owned corporation, government business enterprise, or parastatal is a legal entity created by a government to undertake commercial activities on behalf of an owner government...
monopolyA monopoly exists when a specific person or enterprise is the only supplier of a particular commodity...
, but is now divided into largely autonomous provincial branches. Its assets in the country's 10 northern provinces were transferred to
China NetcomChina Netcom, full name China Netcom Group Corporation Limited , abbreviated CNC, was a former telecommunication service provider in People's Republic of China...
in 2002 (now
China UnicomChina Unicom or China United Netcom Ltd , is a Chinese state-owned telecommunications operator in the People's Republic of China.-History:...
), leaving China Telecom with the 21 southern provinces. Although the two companies are free to compete across the whole country, Telecom still has an overwhelming market share in the south, while Unicom dominates the north.
China Telecom has been listed on the Hong Kong and New York stock exchanges since 2002, but the
Chinese governmentAll power within the government of the People's Republic of China is divided among three bodies: the People's Republic of China, State Council, and the People's Liberation Army . This article is concerned with the formal structure of the state, its departments and their responsibilities...
still retains majority ownership.
WiFi
China Telecom has the largest single
WiFiWIFI is a radio station broadcasting a brokered format. Licensed to Florence, New Jersey, USA, the station is currently operated by Florence Broadcasting Partners, LLC.This station was previously owned by Real Life Broadcasting...
wireless broadband network with over 30,000 hotspot locations covering hotels, restaurants and transportation facilities in over 250 major Chinese cities including
ShanghaiShanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
,
GuangzhouGuangzhou , known historically as Canton or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of the Guangdong province in the People's Republic of China. Located in southern China on the Pearl River, about north-northwest of Hong Kong, Guangzhou is a key national transportation hub and trading port...
,
ShenzhenShenzhen is a major city in the south of Southern China's Guangdong Province, situated immediately north of Hong Kong. The area became China's first—and one of the most successful—Special Economic Zones...
,
NanningNanning is the capital of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in southern China. It is known as the "Green City" because of its abundance of lush tropical foliage.-History:...
,
HangzhouHangzhou , formerly transliterated as Hangchow, is the capital and largest city of Zhejiang Province in Eastern China. Governed as a sub-provincial city, and as of 2010, its entire administrative division or prefecture had a registered population of 8.7 million people...
,
ChengduChengdu , formerly transliterated Chengtu, is the capital of Sichuan province in Southwest China. It holds sub-provincial administrative status...
,
DalianDalian is a major city and seaport in the south of Liaoning province, Northeast China. It faces Shandong to the south, the Yellow Sea to the east and the Bohai Sea to the west and south. Holding sub-provincial administrative status, Dalian is the southernmost city of Northeast China and China's...
,
Kunming' is the capital and largest city of Yunnan Province in Southwest China. It was known as Yunnan-Fou until the 1920s. A prefecture-level city, it is the political, economic, communications and cultural centre of Yunnan, and is the seat of the provincial government...
,
WuhanWuhan is the capital of Hubei province, People's Republic of China, and is the most populous city in Central China. It lies at the east of the Jianghan Plain, and the intersection of the middle reaches of the Yangtze and Han rivers...
,
ChongqingChongqing is a major city in Southwest China and one of the five national central cities of China. Administratively, it is one of the PRC's four direct-controlled municipalities , and the only such municipality in inland China.The municipality was created on 14 March 1997, succeeding the...
and
Xi'anXi'an is the capital of the Shaanxi province, and a sub-provincial city in the People's Republic of China. One of the oldest cities in China, with more than 3,100 years of history, the city was known as Chang'an before the Ming Dynasty...
.
Consolidation and expansion
On June 2, 2008, the company announced it would acquire
China UnicomChina Unicom or China United Netcom Ltd , is a Chinese state-owned telecommunications operator in the People's Republic of China.-History:...
's CDMA business and network for a total of 110 billion yuan in cash (USD $15.86 Billion in cash), a series of transactions aimed transform the company into a fully integrated telecommunications operator after its expected completion in the next six months to one year.
Such shifts mark a new era for the
Telecommunications industry in ChinaThe telecommunications industry in China is dominated by three state-run businesses: China Telecom, China Unicom and China Mobile. The three companies were formed by a recent revolution and restructuring launched in May 2008, directed by Ministry of Information Industry , Nationals Development and...
in which analyst have further commented that these changes are aimed at promoting a more fair and competitive industry environment.
China Telecom (Europe) Ltd. on 2008-10-23 said it would expand its Asian-European services, aiming to increase its market share in Europe.
In May of 2011, China Telecom formed a strategic partnership with German software group SAP to offer a cloud-based version of SAP's business software to small and medium companies in China.
Rerouted Internet traffic
On April 8, 2010 China Telecom rerouted about 15% of foreign Internet traffic through Chinese servers for 18 minutes. The traffic included the commercial websites of
DellDell, Inc. is an American multinational information technology corporation based in 1 Dell Way, Round Rock, Texas, United States, that develops, sells and supports computers and related products and services. Bearing the name of its founder, Michael Dell, the company is one of the largest...
,
IBMInternational Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
,
MicrosoftMicrosoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
, and
Yahoo!Yahoo! Inc. is an American multinational internet corporation headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, United States. The company is perhaps best known for its web portal, search engine , Yahoo! Directory, Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Groups, Yahoo! Answers, advertising, online mapping ,...
as well as
governmentThe domain name gov is a sponsored top-level domain in the Domain Name System of the Internet. The name is derived from government, indicating its restricted use by government entities in the United States. The gov domain is administered by the General Services Administration , an independent...
and
military siteThe domain name mil is the sponsored top-level domain in the Domain Name System of the Internet for the United States Department of Defense and its subsidiary or affiliated organizations. The name is derived from military. It was one of the first top-level domains, created in January 1985.The...
s in the United States. China Telecom denied hijacking any Internet traffic.
See also
External links