history

History

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Our company’s history

China Telecom Americas (CTA) began in San Jose, California in 2000 before moving its headquarters to Herndon, VA in 2001.  CTA was the first overseas representative office of China Telecommunications Corporation, an telecommunications industry leader in China. As one of the first and only U.S.-based Chinese communications service providers, CTA offered enterprises and carrier wholesale customers a single source of procurement for China-domestic, China-cross border network services using contracts negotiated in their home market with flexible terms and billing options.

Quickly, Fortune 500 companies found value in procuring telecom services for their China branch offices and corporate users from CTA’s bilingual solutions and account teams who were based in their local time zones.  Later on, CTA also became popular with global Chinese enterprises mainly offering IT help-desk, branch office and colocation service requirements in the US, Canadian and Brazilian markets.

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China Education Network (CERNET),  China Telecom and affiliates open a 64K International Private Leased Circuit with Sprint Corporation helping China become the 77th country to access the what was to become the global Internet.

China Telecommunications Corporation opens a North American representative office in San Jose, California with the blessing of the US government, making China Telecom one of the first Chinese Fortune 500 companies to go global.

China Telecom Americas establishes business partnerships with U.S. and European carriers and gives American companies the ability to buy Chinese telecom services in the USA, under US laws and contracts, rather than procuring directly in China.  This helps American and foreign companies with operations in China efficiently procure telecom services for China while lowering banking / transaction costs, exchange rate and legal risk exposure.

China Telecom Americas completed the launch of a wholesale business to buy and sell large-scale voice capacity from international carriers on a bilateral basis. By the end of CTA’s first year in the voice and data business, 20 multinational corporate customers have been signed for service.

Further, CTA officially becomes the only authorized reseller of China Domestic Services, a portfolio of data products previously available only for sale within China. This reseller arrangement creates a framework that makes it dramatically easier for enterprises to engage with China for the purpose of buying and selling telecom products.

China Telecom Americas purchases network capacity to create dedicated routes necessary for enabling China-based companies to offer voice and data services abroad. CTA’s backbone connection is upgraded to 30 gigabit per second capacity – making it one of the largest network backbone service providers in the world. CTA operations are extended into Canada, as China grows into Canada’s second largest trading partner.

China Telecom Corporation Limited’s next generation Internet service, CN2, is made available on an international basis, and CTA begins offering CN2-based services. The original ChinaNet (CN), first created in the mid-1990’s, is the second largest IP network in the world. China Telecom Americas achieves a 99 percent installation rate for 2004, exceeding the industry average of 93 percent.

China Telecom Americas completes its nationwide network connectivity projects with its US service provider partners adding more access points to ChinaNet and CN2. In the years since, CTA grows its customer base, and continues to extend its service area and depth and evolves its offering of  IP-based services.

From 2006 to 2012, China Telecom Corporation Limited pursued a global expansion strategy by establishing offices and network connectivity to China in Europe, Central Asia, Middle East, Macao, Japan, Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Brazil, Australia, Malaysia, Korea, South Africa, Turkey and Kenya.

China Telecom’s cloud computing branch is established in 2012, and begins paving the way for what has become China’s third leading cloud platform for enterprise, now known as Tianyi Cloud (pron: tee-yen-yee) or “eCloud” to technologists outside of China.

China Telecom Americas launches its Channel Partner Program giving more options to procure telecom services for China branches and users through the value-added channel reseller market in the USA.  Today, CTA has master service agreements in place with nearly 10 master agent partners who combined, represent a roster of over 100 leading carrier and ISP partners from around the world making telecom and IT service procurement more flexible and efficient for business.

China Telecom Americas working with its parent company China Telecom Corporation and multiple partners including MANRS, the internet organization for the Mutually Accepted Norms on Routing Security to make its global backbone networks RPKI compliant to prevent BGP network route leaks, hijacks and misconfigurations.

China Telecom Americas increases access to a host of services as a response to Covid-19, quickly extending service availability, opening up paywalls, offering free trials and deep discounts.  CTA also made significant donations to support the local communities we call home.

As a company committed to our customers, China Telecom Americas continues to evolve to offer value-added global cloud and SD-WAN network services.   We are also working with local governments, non-governmental organizations and legal entities to elevate global privacy and security while maintaining cross-border connectivity and collaboration.

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