China Unicom adds its expertise to allow Belt and Road to flourish

With the economic development of countries and regions involved in the Belt and Road Initiative, the demand for international information services has increased substantially. China Unicom, one of the nation's top telecom carriers, has actively responded to the initiative, helping to build information infrastructure in major economic corridors and information ports involved, working closely with their partners.

To satisfy the increasing demand of international information services in BRI-related regions, China Unicom has established top-tier infrastructure to deliver high-quality services there. The company's telecom infrastructure includes: the award-winning China Unicom (Hong Kong) Global Center in Hong Kong, a full-spectrum global cloud service center that serves as the information infrastructure hub for BRI-related countries and regions; more than 30 global submarine cable systems that cover 19 BRI-related countries and regions, such as South Atlantic Inter Link, which is the first transmission fiber cable connecting Africa and South America; more than 20 global terrestrial cable systems that cover 10 BRI-related countries and regions; and over 70 Points of Presence established globally. This top-tier infrastructure has allowed China Unicom to create an information optical highway, providing crucial infrastructural services for the BRI-related regions and delivering global integrated solutions to Chinese enterprises seeking to enter those markets, as well as businesses in BRI-related countries and regions to enter and develop in the Chinese market.

To help further serve the BRI-related countries and regions, China Unicom has extended its reach and gone beyond infrastructure. To date, China Unicom has established a total of 32 overseas subsidiaries, 14 of which are in countries and regions involved in the initiative. In 2018, China Unicom established overseas subsidiaries in Thailand, Vietnam and South Africa. As Thailand and Vietnam are located at the heart of the ASEAN region, they are not only hubs of logistics, trade and finance, but also bridges connecting the ASEAN and China. South Africa, the starting point of connecting Africa to China under the BRI framework, is vital to the collaboration of BRI-related countries. These subsidiaries allow China Unicom to fulfill the requirement of local markets, so as to provide quality-assured communication infrastructures and value-added services for enterprises in BRI-related countries and regions.

With China Unicom's extensive global network coverage, the company helps to serve countries and regions involved in the initiative. This telecom giant provides customers with tailored, secure and efficient services such as high-quality networks, information and communications technology services, integrated cloud services, big data, internet of things applications, expert-level systems, video conferencing, premium network, unified communications, content and security services and professional end-to-end cloud-network integrated information and communication services, and provides personal customers with premium voice and mobility services, so as to aid their digital transformation and globalization development.

(China Daily 04/27/2019 page17)