AT&T and China Telecom announce deal to share infrastructure

It looks like China Telecom is making good on its plans to enter the US market. Earlier this month we reported that the largest carrier in China had its eyes on entering the US market. Their initial plan was to provide services to Chinese Americans and tourists with a line that works in the US, and another line that will work in China. Now it appears that China Telecom has entered into an agreement with AT&T to share their infrastructure.

This move will allow both carriers to take advantage of each other’s infrastructure to expand their virtual private networks (VPN) and cross country services and is aimed towards international companies. So far AT&T has managed to identify more than 1,700 MNCs worldwide that have a presence in China, with 600 of said companies being AT&T customers.

The deal also includes providing bilateral WiFi roaming as an additional access capability. The Chinese carrier still has plans to launch their own services in the US some time next year, but it looks like they’re already started to make their presence known with this deal with AT&T. Who knows, perhaps China Telecom’s future partner for their service launch in the US could also be with AT&T assuming that this deal is successful.

Tyler Lee
Categories: Cellphones
Tags: AT&T, china telecom, deal, enterprise, international