China Telecom has established an operating unit to manage its business in Africa and the Middle East in a bid to capitalise on growth opportunities in the region.
China Telecom (Africa and Middle East) will oversee the telco’s network build and business development in the region, and manage its local subsidiaries. Its focus will be on serving multi-national customers, particularly Chinese firms.
"It is a significant milestone for this China-based global company to reinforce its business expansion in the region," CTG said, in a statement.
The move comes as China Telecom seeks to expand its presence in the Middle East and Africa. In March it announced it had won a contract with Wananchi Group’s SimbaNET arm to design and build a 428-km national optical network in Malawi.
Africa and the Middle East offers opportunities for growth as a result of its under-developed telecoms infrastructure. Citing a recent paper by the African Development Bank, China Telecom noted that most public sector services in Africa are inefficient and backbone services, incl uding telecommunications, are expensive, thereby impeding growth.
As a result, China Telecom is looking to promote IT and smart city developments, boosting the availability of Internet and value-added services in the region.
