Cable & Wireless commits to China growth
British company sets up in Shanghai to prepare for opportunities in telecoms
Hong Kong's former telecommunications monopoly - Cable & Wireless - has returned to China, setting up a company that is expected to spearhead its mainland expansion.
The London-based firm yesterday said it had established Cable & Wireless Communications Technical Service (Shanghai), to prepare for a further opening of China's telecommunications markets.
The company, which built the first telephone network in Shanghai in the 1930s, kept two representative offices in Shanghai and Beijing after selling its Hong Kong telecommunications business to PCCW in 2000.
'This is a further commitment to China beyond what we have seen,' Cable & Wireless (China) general manager Roy Stanley said. 'It is quite an exciting time to get more involved in China.'
Cable & Wireless is hoping to grab a slice of the mainland's telecommunications service market as part of China's World Trade Organisation obligations, which will allow foreign firms into the sector when it is deregulated from 2006.
So far, Cable & Wireless has enlisted China Netcom as a key partner to support its enterprises in the mainland in the field of voice and data communications.
Mr Stanley said Cable & Wireless planned to commit #1 million (HK$13.74 million) in the mainland, and set up two more offices in Shenzhen and Dalian. It has about 20 staff in China.
A mainland subsidiary would allow Cable & Wireless to respond more swiftly to growing customer demand for value-added services such as systems integration, consultancy and technical support.
Cable & Wireless has a majority stake in Companhia de Telecomunicacoes de Macau, which contributed HK$400 million in profit last year.
It is also a facility-based telecommunications licence holder for Hong Kong's business market.
MAINLAND RETURN
Cable & Wireless hopes for bigger slice of China market
Firm enlists China Netcom as key support partner
London-based company has majority stake in CTM de Macau
