President of China Telecom USA participates at PTC2003 by Puja Borries Zhang Weihua, President of China Telecom USA, is a newly featured speaker at PTC2003, this year’s annual Pacific Telecommunications Conference. Zhang has been working on the front lines of launching China’s pioneer efforts to establish telecommunications operations in the United States. Zhang will speak in a session titled “Broadband in East Asia - A View from the Top” on 21 January 2003 from 3:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Hawaii Standard Time. “China Telecom USA has its own submarine cable circuit connecting the US and China, as well as its transport backbone in the United States. The aim of the new company is to bring its US customers closer to China,” says Hoyt Zia, PTC’s executive director. In early November, China’s largest fixedline telecommunications service provider, China Telecom, became the first Chinese telecoms company to establish operations in the United States. The debut of China Telecom USA kicked off with the release of a suite of products called
ChinaDirect that offers end-to-end telecom services to American Corporations doing business in China. “We are building out a cutting edge network from coast to coast,” Mr. Zhang commented on the company’s mission. “We have points of presence in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York and Washington, DC. We’re working in the same time zone as our American customers, speaking their language. We’ll provide customer service and operations support 24x7.” (telecomtv.com) The company’s stateside move comes at a time of unparalleled growth in China’s telecommunications market. China Telecom has earned over US$11 billion in revenue with 128 million customers, including more than 25 million dial-up Internet users. “The fact that a single company will operate the entire network, from the East Coast of the United States to the easternmost reaches of China, is a big selling point for our new company,” said Mr. Zhang. (telecomtv.com) 22
“Creating seamless communications links between American headquarters and Chinese subsidiaries is China Telecom USA’s only focus, so you can bet we’re going to work tirelessly to be good at it,” Mr. Zhang said. (www.chinatelecom.com.cn/usa) The Honolulu-based Pacific Telecommunications Council is an international, non-profit organization that promotes the development of telecommunications and related industries in the Pacific, with an emphasis on developing countries. PTC’s membership of over 600 organizations and individuals includes providers and users of communications services, policymakers, lawyers, engineers and academics. Visit www.ptc.org for information on PTC membership and events. You can find more information on the conference, PTC2003, including the conference program, on the Internet at http://www.ptc.org/ PTC2003.