The Dubai-based Middle East headquarters and network hub of China Telecom Europe (CTE) is to be expanded to cover North Africa as the telecommunications carrier c ontinues to enlarge its network.

Since opening the Dubai office in 2008 as part of its “Information Silk Road”, CTE has seen traffic grow enormously in the region - particularly in Dubai itself, a statement said.

The Dubai operation is part of what is now recognised as the highest quality and most resilient network connecting Europe and Asia. It already has a choice of three terrestrial routes and a fourth, involving Kazakhstan, is due to open before the end of the year.

“Dubai has been an important and highly successful part of our network from the outset and we have decided to utilise it for our growth into North Africa,” said Ou Yan, managing director of China Telecom (Europe) Ltd.

“The rapidly increasing bilateral trade between China and the Middle East and Africa - now running at some $350 billion - has demanded even more reliable and efficient communication solutions with China and Asia as a whole, and this is what our network is providing. As more and more Chinese enterprises are expanding into the region, we are able to get closer and closer to our customers”.

“This is all part of our vision to create what we call the ‘Information Silk Road’, stretching across Emea and providing highly resilient, carrier class access to the largest communications network in China and to an expanding global network, which now includes as many as 20 long distance submarine cables.”

The new North African POPs (Points of Presence) are likely to be located in Nairobi and Cairo, to cover East and North Africa respectively. They will become part of a network with POPs already in Dubai, London (2), Frankfurt (2), Helsinki, Johannesburg, Moscow, Paris and Stockholm and with a further 50 extended POPs elsewhere across the network.

“Some of the world’s leading carriers already depend on CTE for connections to China and elsewhere in Asia Pacific and with so much business-critical traffic involved, they need truly world class levels of reliability, transmission speed, quality and customer service,” added Yan.-TradeArabia News Service