Although British Telecom has had dealings in mainland China for 19 years, it is only now beginning to enter the market formally, having witnessed more and more transnational companies growing stronger in China.

The domestic media are reporting that British Telecom has entered into a cooperative agreement with China Netcom, although their cooperation is currently non-exclusive. Instead, British Telecom is simply looking to find via China Netcom more local clients for whom to provide its internet-based information and communications technologies.