China Telecom eyes deals with Indian telecom players

China Telecom Corp, is looking to establish a cable connection between China and India, and is eyeing three Indian telecom players for a deal, Wall Street Journal said, citing sources.

Enlarge This Image

Sivaram V / REUTERS

Airtel

 

Internet is crucial to India's burgeoning BPO and call center services, as the country becomes increasingly popular as the destination for outsourcing services. Such disruptions can create major havoc to businesses in India, creating a ripple effect to other regions as well.
While the company is not interested in acquiring a network or a stake in Indian companies, given the licensing and regulatory obstacles, it would like to create a Sino-Indian land cable to cash in on the increasing demand in the region.
China Telecom’s profit growth is slowing due to increasing competition due to government led restructuring, increased marketing costs and handset subsidies.
China Telecom bought China Telecommunications under the government restructuring plan for telecom. The restructuring was done with an intention to transform into the companies that offer both 2G and 3G services and improving the competitiveness of local players.
State-owned telecom operator saw its profit grow about 1 percent in the first half of 2010. But the company has not backed away from spending more to upgrade its network and transmission.
The company’s market share has risen 10 percent from 4 percent since it acquired Unicom’s CDMA operations, Feng said.
In a plan to boost its share further, the company has opened Internet data centers in Hong Kong and Singapore, and has plans to open future centers in Japan and Australia.
China Telecom could not be immediately reached for a comment by the International Business Times.

ROHIT KALIA
PGDM 3RD SEM