BEIJING and SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO) today announced that it has made a strategic investment of US$50 million in China Communications Services Corporation Limited (CCS). Cisco is the largest foreign strategic investor in CCS.

CCS is the specialized telecommunications support businesses arm of a major telecommunications group in China. CCS has been reorganized and spun-off to form a separate independent entity, with China Telecom Group, China Mobile and China Unicom also as shareholders. CCS is now publicly traded on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange with the ticker 0552.hk.

Under the terms of the agreement, Cisco and CCS will jointly provide managed telecommunications services, such as network operation and administration, to enterprise customers in China. Additionally, the two companies will provide customers with new network solutions, including IP infrastructures, digital video, and 3G platforms and applications.

“We are pleased to be working with Cisco to bring advanced telecommunications services to enterprise customers in China,” said Li Ping, Chief Executive Officer of CCS. “This is an exciting time for CCS as we plan to capitalize on the growing demand of high value-added voice and data supporting services across the country. We expect Cisco will play an important role in helping us realize our plan.”

“China is an extremely important market for Cisco, and in cooperation with CCS, we intend to help make China one of the most connected countries in the world,” said Owen Chan, senior vice president of Cisco’s Asia Pacific business. “By working with CCS, we hope to help Chinese businesses adopt and deploy new productivity-enhancing communications services.”

Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO)