China Network Communications Group Corp has opened its first business base in Japan to allow Internet providers to use its communications lines linking the two countries, a newspaper said on April 15.
China's second-largest fixed-line telecommunications carrier also plans to offer data communications services for Japanese firms that operate in China, the Nikkei business daily reported. With the project, China Network Communications has become the first major Chinese carrier to enter the Japanese telecommunications market, the newspaper said.
The move is mainly based on expectations that demand for Japan-China communications lines will grow further ahead of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, Nikkei said.
The unit has already applied to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications for a business licence as a telecom carrier, it said. The firm will soon link itself to an undersea cable between the two countries to start a service to lease the circuit to Japanese Net access providers.
The Chinese firm is also considering giving Japanese telecom carriers access to international lines, it said.