Denis Monteleone recently gave an exclusive interview to Lucas Amorim, Editorial Director at Exame, a São Paulo-based magazine specializing in economics and business, highlighting the big plans the company has to grow its offerings in Brazil and Latin America. Keep reading for highlights and the full interview in English.

China Telecom do Brasil in the News

In the Exame article entitled, “In a fresh start in Brazil, China Telecom targets Northern and Northeastern Brazil and Brazil-Asia connection,” Monteleone addresses a variety of topics, including how the company with a nine-year history in Brazil has multiplied its presence in the nation in 2023 and CTB’s global priorities.

When asked why an emphasis is being placed on Brazil now, Monteleone said the timing is right and the nation has reached a milestone in its relationship with China.

In the Exame article, Monteleone states: “The business relationship is increasing due to the empathy that exists between the Brazil and China. This has generated interest in markets such as agriculture, electricity, logistics and transport. China is expanding to Latin America, with factories in Argentina, Mexico and Brazil. There is a strategy by the Chinese government to explore this international market by making heavy investments.”

Monteleone goes on to discuss the company’s growth trajectory, with plans to more than double its Brazil employee base by the end of 2024 and expand its network to the north and northeast of Brazil by 2025.

English Translation of the Full Interview

Questions by Exame. reporter Lucas Amorim, answers by Denis Monteleone.

Q: What are China Telecom’s global priorities?
A: The company is one of the world’s largest integrated telecommunications service providers. And it has a long-term commitment to developing global operations. China Telecom is present in more than 70 countries and has submarine fiber optics connecting Asia, Europe, Africa the US and Brazil. It has more than 200 PoPs (points of presence) around the world and is a member of 41 submarine cables. In Brazil, the company was established in 2012 and began operating in 2014. Today we have 13 PoPs, in 5 states with presence in (São Paulo, Rio, Paraná, Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul). We have 140clients for whom we offer connectivity solutions.

Q: Does your arrival a few weeks ago represent a new step for a company that has been here for nine years?
A: From 2014 to 2023 the company sold a single product, internet access. But we have a portfolio of services, including cloud, connectivity, IOT, SD-WAN, products that are ready to serve Brazil. The aim is to serve corporate clients with these solutions. We are going to replicate in Brazil a model that we have adopted in the United States and Europe. We’re going to grow in Brazil and at the same time expand into Mexico, Chile, Argentina and Colombia.

Q: Is the focus on serving Chinese companies?
A: That’s the first group of clients. Today we have around 300 Chinese companies in Brazil. They have an IT challenge. China Telecom provides information technology support, from data centers to the local network. The language barrier is a factor. We have specialists in Brazil who speak Mandarin and we can understand the client’s needs. The second group of clients are the 70 Brazilian companies that are already established in China and others that want to do business in Asia. We want to help them consolidate their businesses.

Q: Why these renewed plans for Brazil at this time?
A: It’s a new milestone. It’s a unique moment that Brazil is experiencing with the new government. The business relationship is growing because of the empathy that exists between the two countries (Brazil and China). This has generated interest in markets such as agribusiness, electricity, logistics and transportation. Chinese businesses is investing, not only in the United States and Europe, but also in Latin America, with factories in Argentina, Mexico and Brazil. It is the Chinese government’s strategy to exploit this international market by making heavy investments. Brazil is the country that has received the most investment from China in the last 5 years.

Q: Will growth be organic, or is there interest in mergers and acquisitions?
A: There is interest in mergers and acquisitions. We’re open to it.

Q: You said that the Chinese are fast when it comes to doing business. But CTB has been doing business in Brazil for nine years. Has the time to run finally begun?
A: It has. We’re getting very strong support from China Telecom Americas on global projects, with executives coming here every week. We have a good hiring target for this year and we’re going to grow more next year. Today we have 15 people, by the end of the year we’ll have 25 people and next year, 50.

Q: What investment is planned for the short term?
A: The company has invested in the last few years in 13 PoPs. and we’re continuing to invest. Our cloud node in Sao Paulo is already installed. Next year and year 2025 we want to expand the network to the north and northeast of Brazil, to have 7 additional PoPs.

Q: Do we need to break down any resistance to Chinese investment in technology in Brazil?
A: Investment is linked to opportunity. It can come in the form of expanding the network, or acquiring a new company, or several companies. Brazil and China are two different cultures. But there is a convergence of momentum, of seeking a joint path. We focus on Brazilian companies looking to establish themselves and develop business with Asia, and I would like companies to see us as a facilitator, a technology provider.

The post China Telecom do Brasil New General Manager Featured in Exame appeared first on China Telecom Americas.

Statistics show that LATAM is poised to be the next great digital frontier. Researcher and Latin America expert Fernao Kastrup cites an Accenture study finding the digitalization market in Colombia alone will increase to U.S. $78 billion by 2035. Similarly, over the same timeframe, the digitalization market in Brazil is expected to increase to a whopping $435 billion. And according to the Inter-American Development Bank, the government of Panama recently embarked on a nationwide effort to support digital innovation and cybersecurity throughout the country.

Sounds great, right? But the demographic, regulatory and economic diversity that makes LATAM such a promising new market could also be an immense obstacle to companies seeking to build or increase their business in the region.

As Kastrup cautions, “The region holds particularities that can make (digital transformation) a much more difficult process than in places like the U.S. and Europe.”

Latin America encompasses Mexico and the entirety of Central and South America, as well the Caribbean. As generally defined, LATAM encompasses about 8 million square miles across two continents, ranging from the southern U.S. border nearly to Antarctica, with a rapidly growing population of about 660 million people, nearly 10% of the total global population.

But while the region is often thought of as a single block with common languages and cultures, there are important national differences among the 19 countries commonly considered part of LATAM, including the amount of national investment in digital infrastructure and the percentage of the population with digital access. Kastrup points out, for example, that while 82% of Chileans had regular, reliable internet access, less than half the population (44%) in neighboring Bolivia could say the same.

If LATAM expansion is in your business plans, you’ll need a reliable IT partner with the technology, expertise, dedication, strategic vision and, perhaps most importantly, the local knowledge to make the transition seamless and profitable.

China Telecom Americas (“CTA”) has nurtured a significant presence in the region for years, which includes office locations in both Brazil and Panama. When you choose CTA as your bridge to LATAM, you will have the support of our skilled and experienced local team members, all of whom speak the local languages, understand the local conditions, and are well versed in negotiating the tangle of regulatory red tape encountered in cross-border commerce. As a result, CTA helps businesses launch faster, providing end to end design, engineering, provisioning and deployment of complex communication environments.

CTA is uniquely positioned to deliver exceptional communications and IT services to multinational companies seeking to build or expand their presence in the region. In recent years, CTA has undertaken a significant expansion of its LATAM network, developing an IP backbone infrastructure that connects CTA’s extensive global network with new Points-of-Presence (PoPs) in Fortaleza, Brazil; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Santiago, Chile; Lima, Peru; Panama City, Panama; and Mexico City.

Despite the challenges of the past few years in pandemic, LATAM is still a promising growth market, and CTA is equipped to be your hands-on, on-site team. To learn more, check out our website.

The post CTA: Your Bridge to LATAM IT Expansion appeared first on China Telecom Americas.

With 92% of large U.S. companies having public cloud infrastructure in place already and 82% currently adopting multi-cloud, China Telecom Americas is dedicated to helping customers stay ahead of the curve and achieve their IT goals.

A Shift Towards Multi-Cloud

Fiallo explained that the company’s focus has shifted to providing better, more secure and faster access to multiple clouds, enabling seamless integration. Customers’ evolving needs and the potential for cost and time savings are driving this strategic direction.

“Our own analysis concluded that on our connectivity, we can reduce costs between 15% and higher for the infrastructure that they need to be able to connect all these locations together compared to the traditional way,” said Fiallo during the interview. “We can actually do it 25% faster than [how] we’ve done it in the past. So now you’re getting into a world where our customers are getting more control over their environment, getting it at a cheaper cost, and getting it faster.”

Adapting to the Cloud Era

As cloud technology and applications continue to change the way businesses operate, China Telecom Americas is augmenting its own talent base to better suit these new demands.

“We are in the beginning stages of reshuffling our employee talent base,” said Fiallo. “We have to have engineers that not only understand cloud technology but understand the different applications that are being tied into this cloud infrastructure, so they can then help our clients understand for themselves how it’s done and help them migrate into this environment.”

The shift is a new one for CTA, and Fiallo is optimistic.

“I think it’s actually better suited for us, and it’s a change in the way we operate and how our people think,” he said. “So, we are much more of a consulting-type organization than we were previously.”

The Multi-Cloud Future for Telcos

When it comes to multi-cloud as the future for telcos, CTA is all in.

As Fiallo explains, “If you look at China Telecom as a whole, we have a tremendous amount of assets inside of China. Outside of China, we have less. What we decided to do as a company is… build the cloud infrastructure to help our customers outside of China get access to their cloud infrastructure that they need. Many times, that includes a component inside of China. So for us, that’s the culture.”

In response to this trend, China Telecom Americas has ceased providing traditional line services in the U.S., choosing instead to concentrate on cloud services and building an ecosystem of partners.

“We’re in the process of building out this ecosystem,” said Fiallo. “If you [look at CTA] three years from now, we would be a much bigger company focused on cloud with a lot more resources.”

The race to adapt to the multi-cloud era is on, and China Telecom Americas is eager to evolve and lead the way through this exciting new landscape.

Watch the full interview here.

The post Multi-Cloud Future: Conversation with Luis Fiallo appeared first on China Telecom Americas.

CTB’s eSurfing Cloud services enable enterprises in Brazil to take advantage of the latest cloud technologies, with the added benefit of local support and expertise. With this new offering, businesses in Brazil can optimize their cloud environments, reduce costs, and improve efficiency, all while maintaining high levels of security and compliance. The eSurfing Cloud services in São Paulo will allow customers to connect on a global multi-cloud network of more than nine public cloud nodes, 30 proprietary edge cloud nodes, and more than 200 CDN nodes.

“We are excited to bring our world-class cloud solutions to businesses in Brazil,” said Luis Fiallo, the officer of China Telecom do Brasil. “Our eSurfing Cloud services deliver flexible and scalable solutions that can meet the unique evolving needs of businesses in the region. The launch of this new offering is our continued commitment to helping our customers achieve their business goals and succeed in today’s digital landscape.”

Brazil is one of the most active cloud markets in Latin America, with high demand for the critical services that connect LATAM to the global market. Cloud adoption in Brazil has increased nearly 40% since 2019 and is expected to grow nearly 19% by 2033. While eSurfing Cloud provides customers with access to public cloud, private cloud, hybrid cloud, and edge cloud, its advantages in cloud-network integration, security, and extensive customization make it the choice digital transformation accelerator for businesses of any size.

To learn more about CTB’s comprehensive network and solutions, visit https://www.ctamericas.com.br

About China Telecom do Brasil

China Telecom do Brasil is the largest subsidiary of China Telecom Americas in Latin America and a leading provider of Internet and cloud computing services in Brazil. With a focus on customer satisfaction, the company delivers reliable, scalable, and secure solutions that enable businesses to connect their networks within Brazil and internationally, while thriving in today’s digital landscape. The company is the largest Chinese Internet provider in Brazil with network POPs and backbone connecting the state of Sao Paulo, State of Rio De Janeiro, State of Parana and State of Rio Grande do Sul to the China Telecom global network.

The post China Telecom Launches Its First Cloud Offering in Brazil appeared first on China Telecom Americas.

China Telecom Americas (CTA) has the expertise and technology to ensure maximum uptime, security, speed and efficiency through a full suite of cost-effective IT management services tailored for smart manufacturing. CTA’s flexible and reliable solutions include cloud, colocation and connectivity options, such as software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN).

The proliferation of cloud applications and IoT connected devices requires manufacturers to have a flexible and agile platform to effectively route traffic between distant facilities. CTA’s best-in-class SD-WAN solution delivers network controls to secure and manage data while providing access to customers, partners and employees around the world. Ideal for the manufacturing environment, CTA’s SD-WAN platform offers intelligent cost-effective application performance to improve the end-user experience. When configured for manufacturing, CTA’s SD-WAN platform can adapt in real-time to varying bandwidth demands and network conditions, providing reliable, secure global connectivity with access to global cloud platforms.

CTA: Advancing Manufacturing Operations

CTA also offers expert, responsive IT management services that include consulting, planning and deployment services to build your IT network capabilities as your business grows, along with industry-leading cloud services. Today’s global manufacturers need to keep people, data and applications connected and coordinated. With CTA’s cloud services, manufacturers get private connectivity between cloud service providers’ availability zones both inside and outside China. CTA also offers access to China Telecom’s own global cloud infrastructure, with enterprise-grade compute, storage, and networking facilities.

If you are ready to take the next step, contact us here to speak to one of our dedicated provisioning team members and learn how CTA can build your bridge to smart manufacturing on a global scale.

The post CTA Offers Smart Solutions for Smart Manufacturing appeared first on China Telecom Americas.

Executive Vice President of CTA’s affiliate, Mr. Wu Xiaolei, says, “We take great pride in playing an essential role in developing and promoting cloud and network integration. We welcome different service providers or industry partners in this endeavor, in the hopes that we can better serve our customers. With this cable, we will provide greater value to this community of partners, service providers, and customers, and achieve success together.”

CTA’s affiliate will co-lead the project alongside Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. (Singtel), with both companies joined by their respective Philippines-based affiliates, as well as DITO Telecommunity Corporation (DITO), Globe Telecom, Inc. (Globe), and Unified National Networks Sdn Bhd (UNN) of Brunei Darussalam. The cable system will be supplied by HMN Tech, with construction expected to be complete by the third quarter of 2025.

Connecting key markets beneath the sea

Approximately 6,000 kilometers long, the primary “trunk” of the ALC system will run from Hong Kong SAR, China, to Singapore. Additional branches will connect out to Hainan in China, Luna and Bauang in the Philippines, and Tungku in Brunei Darussalam.

Recognizing the demand for low latency and high bandwidth, the project will cater to the region’s growing digital economies and online populations, both of which have been further fueled by the recent global pandemic. The six markets in this region—Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines—are currently home to 460 million internet users.

Mr. Wu Xiaolei explains, “In the digitalization era, the Asia Link Cable (ALC) is critical for connecting and creating value for our customers, especially in Asia. We are aiming to achieve a more sustainable environment and community as well as enhancing the efficiency of our communication processes by building strong and reliable undersea cables around the world.”

The subsea system, which will have a minimum of eight fiber pairs and an 18Tbps per fiber pair minimum trunk capacity design, will increase resiliency for international traffic by providing additional hyper capacity throughout the region. It will also widen route diversity and increase capacity for existing Southeast Asian networks. An open cable system architecture will also allow telecommunications providers to select and maintain independent line terminal equipment so they can meet their respective customer needs, reducing dependence on any single provider within the consortium.

“ALC is a great accomplishment by Asian carriers that overcame the difficulties of Covid impacts,” says ALC Co-Chair and a director of CTA’s affiliate, adding, “It’s also the only subsea project with zero face-to-face meetings from the MoU to the C&MA signing in the industry. The ALC consortium adopts an open and inclusive principle and will attract more investors in the near future to make it more cost effective, which will reinforce the resilience of interconnectivity in Asia and better serve the digital economy in the region.”

To learn more about China Telecom’s extensive global network of data centers, terrestrial cable systems, and submarine cable systems, visit our global network page.

The post China Telecom: Boosting Data in Southeast Asia with a Subsea Cable Investment appeared first on China Telecom Americas.

Q: What are some of the major ways the telecom industry has changed during your tenure? How has China Telecom Americas pivoted to adapt to these changes?

A: Much has changed in our industry globally, and this change is most pronounced in China. Broadly speaking, consumers and businesses alike are demanding easy, convenient and fast ways to connect. This has led to massive bandwidth consumption and an explosion in virtualization.  In turn, both traditional telecom operators and a new category of communications service provider has been prompted to create new offerings that put the technology stack into the cloud and drive innovative solutions to meet customer demand.

When I joined CTA in 2008, China had the most internet users in the world with 250+ million, and today that number now stands at over 1 billion.  I’ve witnessed significant industry investments in fiber resources, data centers in an effort to increase broadband access across the country, making China the global leader in terms of installed telecommunication bandwidth by 2012.  That year also marked the establishment of China Telecom’s Cloud Computing division, known as “CT Yun” which has become the largest among China’s cloud providers in terms of availability zones.

Outside of China, China Telecom is increasingly known for its Tier-1 global IP network coverage.  As the world’s 10^th largest carrier by revenue, China Telecom is a relatively new entrant in the market for global network services making investments in over 40 subsea cable systems and 250 Points of Presence (PoPs) just in the past 20 years.

Furthermore, China Telecom has evolved service offerings to help global carriers and service provider partners to not only leverage China Telecom for network capacity globally, but also for our expertise designing and deploying custom edge-to-cloud, edge-to-core connectivity options that help our customers extend their service offering to end-users with locations in China.  CTA also provides immense value by offering billing, contracts, engineering, and customer service support teams here in the United States and 80+ countries around the world.

Q: The industry seems to be evolving even faster now. What is China Telecom doing to keep up?

A: That’s absolutely right. Over time, bandwidth resources have improved, but the rise of cloud services, 5G, OTT, Internet of Things, AI / Machine Learning, and Big Data applications have shifted the paradigm again.

Service providers and enterprises alike are investing more heavily in globally distributed networks to offer new applications and improved digital experiences which require transformation to more advanced infrastructure. Many carriers and service providers alike have embraced Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) and Software-Defined Networking (SDN) technologies to allow faster, easier procurement, provisioning and management of networks, and China Telecom is no different. China Telecom has collaborated on many open-source initiatives to help make networks more interoperable and intelligent.

Today, China Telecom operates a fully cloud-connected, multi-terabit, Tier 1 global IP network with a cloud fabric across 60 cloud exchanges leveraging APIs and NNIs with over 110 leading cloud providers and carrier partners that connect China to the global internet.

The next phase of our development is to improve customer experience by offering more automation in network management, as well as offering more access options like private 5G to satisfy the increase in network agility and resiliency.  Best of all, our industry partners can leverage CT’s robust foundation in China, our global network resources, and extensive product portfolio to deliver services to their end-customers.

Q: What does the service provider landscape look like now in China?

A: A lot more competitive! However, the focus seems to always be on price, not necessarily on solutions that will work, and those that will work long term.

With over a billion internet users in China, bandwidth economics and service performance are always a factor in any conversation, especially as the IT industry shifts to application delivery over public internet. As such, many cloud service provider partners want more than just bandwidth.  Increasingly, hyperscale cloud service provider customers are requesting management capabilities to make administrative changes on the carrier’s core network which is opening up many new conversations, particularly as market dynamics evolve and technologies like private 5G, multiple edge access compute (MEC) and network slicing gain prominence in China.

Nevertheless, over my tenure at China Telecom Americas, I’m amazed how quickly the company has evolved to make our network more accessible for global service providers to resell services to their customers in China.  Not to say the solution for China will emulate the way things are done in the rest of world, but complex problems can be overcome by having conversations to fully understand all the solutions available to meet each customer’s unique needs.

This change in the conversations means we are working much more closely with carriers and cloud service provider partners on a project-by-project basis to develop custom, purpose-built solutions that are capable of meeting long-term, complex requirements. While the solutions may differ globally, ultimately our approach delivers a reliable quality of experience for our customers and their end-customers alike.

Q: With Global expansion and “all things internet” comes additional security concerns. How is CT addressing some of these concerns?

A: Many organizations, including China Telecom, have adopted Mutually Agreed Norms for Routing Security or “MANRS” to mitigate against Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) route leaks, outages, and hijacks in global network operations. By adopting MANRS frameworks, China Telecom Americas gives our customers and partners added confidence in our routing security so they can continue scaling and digitizing their operations.

We are proud to be the first Chinese service provider to join MANRS and have always strived to be a responsible operator of our internet resources.   CT also works around the clock in every corner of the world with multiple global NOC teams to defend its network from attacks and protect its customers from threats while maintaining compliance with local cybersecurity regulations in every market we operate.

Q: How has the Covid-19 pandemic impacted China Telecom Americas?

A: People mistakenly believe that business is at a standstill in China due to the pandemic.  However, I can assure you just the opposite – businesses have had to adapt and advance to meet a host of new digital demands.

With the migration to the remote workplace, eCommerce, and other online activities, the demand for reliable edge connectivity and technology solutions has exploded in the past two years in China. Furthermore, as China continues to re-open supply-chains and capacity is ramping back up, we are seeing a return to IT investment and increasing demand for services.

Many use-cases involve transforming certain legacy architectures to focus more on edge-to-core and edge-to-cloud network requirements that demand high performance compute, consistent quality of service with smaller data center footprints.  In response, CT has invested heavily in building state-of-the-art green data centers, increasing interconnectivity options across Internet Exchange points (IXPs) and upgrading cable capacity to overcome shortfalls and price pressures in many APAC markets, not just in China.

Q:  How should service providers who want to learn more about doing business in China engage with you?

A: Connect with us on LinkedIn, through our website, or look for us at upcoming events in 2023, such as PTC and ITW, so we can chat about your goals! We recognize that expanding into new markets can be overwhelming, costly, and time-consuming. If you are seeking to grow in China, we focus on easing those pain points by first taking a deep dive to understand what each of our clients are trying to accomplish.  Then we leverage our tenure, knowledge, and local market expertise to devise solutions that utilize CT’s resources to help our service provider partners expand their portfolio to their end customers.

Our mission is to build relationships through transparency, knowledge, confidence, and trust.  We pride ourselves on creating innovative technology solutions that generate new revenue opportunities and provide the best global communications experience for their end-user customers. We look forward to working together to keep businesses and people connected around the world!

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