CITIC Telecom completes acquisition of Linx

LONDON — CITIC Telecom CPC, a carrier owned by China's major State-owned investment company, has completed the acquisition of Linx Telecommunication B.V., an Amsterdam-based telecom provider, it said Wednesday in a statement.

The merged company is named CITIC Telecom CPC Europe, it said.

This deal also marks a new era for the Hong Kong-based CITIC Telecom as it becomes one of the first Asian-managed service providers to own Points of Presence (POPs) across a multitude of countries along the Digital Silk Road.

"We are starting a new era by expanding our coverage to 140+ points of presence (POPs) in 130 countries which covers critical locations along the Digital Silk Road," said Stephen Ho, CEO of CITIC Telecom CPC.

The Digital Silk Road has significant potential from infrastructure financing. High growth areas along the Digital Silk Road include Russia, Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan.

Ho believed that information interconnectivity is the basis and a development priority of the Belt and Road Initiative.

"The acquisition of CITIC Telecom CPC Europe (formerly Linx Telecommunications B.V.) fits very well into this strategy and now we have a particularly powerful proposition for our customers," he said.