| Type | State-owned cross listed public company SEHK: 728 NYSE: CHA |
|---|---|
| Industry | Telecommunications |
| Founded | 2002 |
| Headquarters | Beijing |
| Area served | Mainland China |
| Key people | Chairman & CEO Wang Xiaochu President & CFO Shang Bing |
| Products | Fixed line and mobile telephony, Internet services, digital television |
| Revenue | US$ 33.36 billion (2010)[1] |
| Net income | US$ 2.40 billion (2010)[1] |
| Employees | 312,520 (2010)[1] |
| Parent | China Telecommunications Corporation Limited |
| Website | www.chinatelecom-h.com/ |
China Telecom Corp. Ltd. (simplified Chinese: 中国电信集团公司, 中国电信) (SEHK: 728, NYSE: CHA) 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 China.
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The company provides fixed-line and Xiaolingtong (Personal Handy-phone System) telephone services to 216 million subscribers as of April 2008,[2] and broadband internet access to over 38 million subscribers, providing approximately 62% (46 Gb/s) of China's internet bandwidth.[3] On June 2, 2008, China Telecom announced that it would purchase China Unicom'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 3G telecommunication.[4]
The company was formerly a state-owned monopoly, but is now divided into largely autonomous provincial branches. Its assets in the country's 10 northern provinces were transferred to China Netcom in 2002 (now China Unicom), 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 government still retains majority ownership.
China Telecom has the largest single WiFi wireless broadband network with over 30,000 hotspot locations covering hotels, restaurants and transportation facilities in over 250 major Chinese cities including Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Nanning, Hangzhou, Chengdu, Dalian, Kunming, Wuhan, Chongqing and Xi'an.[5]
On June 2, 2008, the company announced it would acquire China Unicom'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.[6]
Such shifts mark a new era for the Telecommunications industry in China in which analyst have further commented that these changes are aimed at promoting a more fair and competitive industry environment.[7]
China Telecom (Europe) Ltd. on 2008-10-23 said it would expand its Asian-European services, aiming to increase its market share in Europe.[8]
In May 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.[9]
On April 8, 2010 China Telecom rerouted about 15% of foreign Internet traffic through Chinese servers for 18 minutes.[10] The traffic included the commercial websites of Dell, IBM, Microsoft, and Yahoo! as well as government and military sites in the United States.[11] China Telecom denied hijacking any Internet traffic.[12]