AT&T expects to get final approval from Beijing 'in the next few weeks' for its advanced broadband communications services in Shanghai's Pudong area.
'After our joint-venture agreement with our Shanghai partners receives final approval, we expect to begin offering IP [Internet protocol] broadband services to business customers [in Pudong] in the near future,' AT&T China president Art Kobler said.
The project will make it the first foreign company to provide direct communications services in the mainland since the United States Senate's bipartisan approval of permanent normal trading relations with the mainland.
Partners in the venture include Shanghai Telecom, a subsidiary of national communications carrier China Telecom, and Shanghai Information Investment (SII), the city's investment arm. Negotiations for the joint venture followed the signing of a 'framework agreement' late last year between AT&T, Shanghai Post and Telecommunications Administration and SII.
It provided for a feasibility study into a joint venture to provide IP-based broadband communications services in Pudong.
AT&T planned to add a layer of IP-broadband capabilities to Shanghai Telecom's communications infrastructure, including fibre-optics, to various Pudong buildings.
