China Telecom Americas adds landlines in Latin America
China Telecom Americas (CTA) is a subsidiary of China’s state-owned China Telecom. CTA was founded in 2000 and is headquartered in Herndon, Virginia. It operates in North and South America. Initially, the company focused on establishing telecom connections between China and the U.S. West Coast. From there, CTA established connections to the U.S. East Coast, and then on to Europe. This enabled CTA to pass telecom through the United States using only its own lines. In early April 2020 the Trump administration said it considered cancelling CTA’s U.S. license, citing national security grounds. As part of a P.R. offensive to win hearts and minds, CTA donated “surplus computers” to U.S. universities for remote education necessitated by the Covid-19 pandemic. It was not enough; in December 2020 the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) launched an official investigation into CTA, a first step in the process to cancel CTA’s license. The investigation is ongoing.
At the same time, CTA is planning a vast expansion of its operations in Latin America [China Telecom Americas to expand Latin American footprint in 2021]. CTA already operates a backbone telecom line from São Paulo in Brazil to Panama City in Panama, and has been providing telecom services in Brazil since 2011. The expansion plans include several new landlines and two new hubs: one in Panama City and one in Fortaleza, Brazil. The main new telecom line runs south from São Paulo to Buenos Aires, and then north to Santiago, Lima, and Panama, and from there to Miami via the Caribbean. The other lines run from Fortaleza to Panama, from Fortaleza to New York, and from Fortaleza to Miami, again via the Caribbean. CTA also intends to enlarge its office network across the continent.
Analysis: Telecom networks are an integral component of China’s Digital Silk Road (DSR), itself part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). CTA’s expansion plan is likely to alarm the U.S. even further about the company’s activities in ‘America’s backyard’. The new network will enable improved connectivity within South America, and new connections with North America. The planned cables that will run through the Caribbean may eventually be used to enlarge CTA’s cable network in that area. However, if the FCC revokes CTA’s license in the U.S., the new south-north connectivity will be worth a whole lot less. Telecom has so become a very real part of the battle for influence and power in Latin America between China and the United States.
Tycho de Feijter
|
|
