Orange owner partners with China Telecom to serve visitors

China Telecom will use the network of T-Mobile and Orange owner Everything Everywhere in order to provide a service aimed at Chinese people living in the UK as well as a similar number of visitors every year.

The service will be launched before the anticipated surge in Chinese visitors for the London Olympics.

Everything is the largest mobile phone operator in the UK by customer numbers and has the biggest 3G network for smartphone downloads in the UK.

The “strategically important” deal is the first time a Chinese telecoms company has entered into such a partnership overseas.

Yan Ou, managing director of China Telecom Europe, said: “Entering the UK mobile market is a strategic move for China Telecom Europe.

“We are keen to launch the service in the UK as soon as possible as there is a real gap in the market for the provision of tailored mobile services and competitive tariffs aimed at the growing Chinese population in the UK.”

The deal will take the number of partnerships Everything has with other companies to 24. Others include Virgin, Lycamobile and Cable & Wireless.

China Telecom is the smallest of China’s three carriers and is also considering entering the United States market with a similar mobile virtual network operator model, which is so called because it uses another operator’s network.

The company currently offers corporate telecoms services to businesses around the world as well as to consumer and corporate services in China.

There were 271,000 Chinese living in Britain in 2010, according to the Office for National Statistics.