Pedestrians walk past a China Telecom branch office building in Hami, northwest China's Xinjiang region on November 18, 2010. State-owned China Telecom on November 18 rejected US claims that its servers "hijacked" highly sensitive Internet traffic on American government and military websites earlier this year.STR/AFP / Getty Images
The North American arm of China Telecom Ltd is upgrading its presence in Canada, making its Toronto-area office into a full-fledged subsidiary to serve multinational companies and international telecom carriers.
Donald Tan, president of China Telecom Americas, said the company has had an office in Canada for more than five years but demand for communication links with China and the Asia-Pacific region has increased.
"Some of Canada's most ambitious companies have long been active in China. Many others are beginning to explore the great opportunities China has to offer," Mr. Tan said in Wednesday's announcement.
"These firms need an experienced partner to help them develop and deploy a plan for success in China."
The group's parent company, China Telecom, has the world's largest fixed-line telecommunications network, with 174 million telephone subscribers and 65 million broadband customers. It also has 100 million mobile phone subscribers.
China Telecom Canada, headquartered in Markham, Ont., will provide a range of data, Internet and value-added services.
China Telecom Americas has its headquarters in Herndon, Va., and offices in several cities throughout the United States.