PCCW pushes IT services expansion into eastern China
PCCW Solutions, the largest information-technology services provider in Hong Kong, plans to expand its operations into eastern China this year amid increased hi-tech spending in the country.
“We’re continuing to expand business in mainland China from key accounts and broader industry capabilities, including media, travel, retail, logistics and manufacturing,” Ramez Younan, the managing director at PCCW Solutions, told a media briefing on Thursday.
“After focusing on the northern and southern parts of China, we’re looking to grow in the eastern part of the country to support our customers there.”
Younan said the goal was to obtain a licence to operate a new data centre and provide enterprise internet services within 2017 in eastern China, but declined to identify which province.
Data centres are secure facilities built to house large-capacity servers and data storage systems, with multiple power sources and high-bandwidth internet connections. These sites are used to host so-called cloud computing operations, which enable companies to distribute software and other digital resources online like electricity from a power grid.
PCCW Solutions’ expansion strategy comes as demand for information technology services on the mainland rises.
Research firm Gartner has forecast information technology services in China to grow 10 per cent this year to 124.21 billion yuan, up from an estimated 113.24 billion yuan last year.
Younan said PCCW Solutions was keen to follow and support the business expansion of its major customers outside of the mainland and Hong Kong, which has led the company to deepen its resources in Southeast Asian markets like the Philippines and Singapore.
He said the company had secured record orders of US$844 million by the end of December, up 22 per cent from a year earlier.
Revenue last year climbed 6 per cent to HK$3.82 billion from HK$3.59 billion in 2015. The firm’s enterprise applications, cloud solutions and infrastructure operations combined to make up 56 per cent of total revenue.
