Dozens of IT representatives from American and Chinese companies got together this week in Chicago to hear what a Chinese telecommunications giant can do for them. Many of these companies share the same need: a comprehensive set of telecom and IT solutions and connections among their US, China and global operations.

China Telecom Americas (CTA), a US subsidiary of China Telecom Group, the largest fixed-line, broadband, and CDMA mobile operator in China, offered to deliver precisely that at a customer summit on Oct 9-10.

"You can count on us to be your global partner for information and communication total solutions," Joe Han, president of CTA, told a room full of current and potential clients representing US firms that have operations in China and Chinese firms invested in the US.

China Telecom Group now owns the world's largest optical fiber network - more than 51,000 miles long - consisting of more than 33 underwater and land-based cables stretching across the globe, providing a transmission capacity of 2,198G. It has established more than 40 network points of presence in 28 countries to achieve what they call a seamless global connection.

CTA was established in 2000 in Los Angeles and later moved to Herndon, Virginia, to be part of a tech corridor that also hosts Verizon, AOL, and Sprint. CTA has more than 230 clients, including about 35 Fortune 500 firms. It has maintained an annual average growth rate of 25 percent - even through the recession - well above the average in the telecom industry.

Even though China Telecom is a household name in China - just as AT&T or Verizon are in the US - it was unknown to most American companies when it first landed in the US with just three employees.

"Persistence and patience paid off," Han said, recalling his early experience winning over a leading American casual wear company.

"We went to meet them twice a year. We had a team of marketing and sales people flying in from different locations to do presentations, show them our newest technology and services. They just listened and said they understood. Then they took us to their retail stores and we ended up buying bags full of their clothes," Han recalled.

Three years later, the company handed its telecom contract to CTA. Now, all of its 87 stores in China connect to their US headquarters via CTA.

Han said he felt particularly proud when he walked into Tysons Corner, a major up-scale shopping mall outside of Washington DC, the other day and found that seven stores in a row - including an electric car displayed in the lobby - were all CTA customers.

For Thomas Lam, managing director of enterprise sales and solutions at CTA, the benefit clients gain by signing up for CTA service - be it phone lines, video conferences, Internet access, virtual network, or data centers - is quite straightforward.

"I always told my customers that no matter which companies you started with in the US for your telecommunication needs in China, you most likely ended up using China Telecom's infrastructure in China, so why not start with us here?" said Lam, who now manages more than two dozen sales people the company hired locally. CTA has six branches in the US, as well as branches in Canada and Latin America.

"It's not easy to get the companies onboard, but once they choose to come with us, they're happy thereafter," he added.

Getting Chinese companies onboard was not as difficult. Many of these companies had long been serviced by CT in China. When they expanded to the US, it was often natural for them to reach out to CTA.

When a Chinese bank bought a US bank's retail arm last year, it had to optimize telecom flow between the bank's 13 US locations, as well as its connection with its new headquarters in Beijing. CTA is now laying new dedicated lines for the bank in the US.

For Han, the niche market CTA has found in the US has a bright future.

"As long as there is economic interaction between the US and China, our service is needed," said Han.

charlenecai@chinadailyusa.com

(China Daily USA 10/11/2013 page10)