China Mobile, the world’s largest telecoms company by number of subscribers, has launched a mobile phone service in the UK after striking a deal to lease capacity on BT’s network.
China Mobile has 880m customers in mainland China and has already built a substantial international subsea cable and enterprise network. It said its move into the UK was the next big step in its global strategy: this is the first time the company has launched a network outside China.
Li Feng, chairman and chief executive of China Mobile International, said: “We have 880m subscribers and every year we have 90m travellers to the rest of the world . . . extending this network to the UK gives us a window to go global.”