AT&T pushes deeper into China

China Telecom and AT&T are extending a partnership to provide telecom services to multinational businesses in the Chinese market.
 
AT&T is pushing its current IP-VPN service deeper into China, and will connect China Telecom to its domestic MPLS-based IP network to give Chinese multinationals a greater presence in the US. The operators are also planning to offer bilateral Wi-Fi roaming, and will explore the potential for similar collaborations in additional global markets.
 
The carriers may also expand the current agreement to cover joint development of services such as videoconferencing.
 
China Telecom and AT&T have been partners since 2000, when they formed joint venture Shanghai Symphony Telecom along with Shanghai Information Investment. AT&T itself has had a presence in China for around 20 years.
 
The new agreement comes a week after China Unicom and Spanish incumbent Telefonica revealed a similar deal covering provision of voice and data services to multinationals. Unicom gains access to Telefonica points of presence (PoPs) in 38 countries and has granted the Spanish operator similar access to its PoPs in Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Australia, France and Sweden.