China Mobile opens Dubai office, plans to boost investment

China Mobile International has opened a Middle East office in Dubai Internet City as it seeks to boost regional investment.

The company, which already has a point of presence to exchange internet traffic in the UAE, said it would explore partnerships with local operators and investment opportunities in network infrastructure to support Chinese companies in the region.

It will also bring future technology products to the region relating to artificial intelligence and internet of things.

“Users from China and the Middle East have higher expectations on needs especially on data roaming services nowadays,” said China Mobile Communications Group president Li Yue.

“With the opening of our Middle East office in Dubai, it marks an important milestone for China Mobile to expand its businesses to the whole Middle East.”

Chinese companies have increased their presence in the Middle East in recent years. China National Petroleum announced plans to establish a regional office in Dubai’s Jebel Ali free zone in April and technology firm Huawei opened its first Middle East store in November.

Read: China National Petroleum seeks Middle East expansion with new Dubai office

Read: China’s Huawei opens first Middle East store in Dubai

China Mobile International controls state-owned China Mobile’s 40 submarine and terrestrial telecoms cables and 138 points of presence worldwide.

The company is also planning to establish a global network of cloud data centres.

Its parent company is among the world’s telecoms firms with nearly 916.5 million mobile customers and 146.8 million fixed broadband customers as of September.