ITU: AT&T Benefits from Asia Boom

AT&T is positioning itself to become a key provider of global communication services in China, India and Vietnam, three of the world’s fastest-growing economies, executives said at a telecommunications event in Hong Kong.

“China is the fastest-growing market for AT&T,” Ronald Spears, senior vice president of business sales at AT&T Global Services, said Tuesday during a news conference at Telecom World. “We’re not only supporting businesses going into China, but increasingly Chinese companies that require global communication services.”

AT&T remains the only foreign telecommunications company to have an equity stake in a local operator, Unisiti, a joint venture with China Telecommunications (China Telecom) that provides broadband IP services, according to Spears.

In mainland China, the U.S. company operates four nodes that support services such as ATM, VPN and frame relay in addition to IP. Additional nodes are in Hong Kong and Taipei.

India, AT&T’s second-fastest-growing market, generates the most business for the company in the Asia-Pacific region, according to Spears. And the company is taking steps to further increase its business in the country where businesses that offer outsourcing services are generating huge demand for communication services.

Last month, AT&T became the first foreign telecommunications company to receive licenses for national long distance and international long distance telephone services in India.

Early next year, newly formed AT&T India plans to provide VPN services to multinational corporations, IT-enabled service companies and business process outsourcing providers in the country, according to Steve Lowe, vice president of AT&T Asia Pacific.

Last month in Vietnam, AT&T agreed to partner with Vietel to offer local enterprises and an increasing number of multinational companies VPN and frame relay services, with plans to introduce additional services in the near future.

Currently, AT&T serves more than 1,000 corporate customers in the Asia-Pacific region, with more than 33 nodes in 14 markets.

Telecom World, which is organized by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a United Nations agency, runs through Friday.

-John Blau, IDG News Service (Dusseldorf Bureau)

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