Phone1, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Phone1Globalwide, Inc., a provider of international commercial and wholesale telephone services, recently announced it has signed a bilateral carrier agreement with China Network Communications Group Corporation (China Netcom).

The agreement allows both companies to originate traffic on each other's networks to reach their respective customers.

Through this agreement, Phone1 will offer what China Netcom calls "Home Country Direct" (HCD) service to the United States from any landline or wireless telephone in China. HCD services include automated and operator-assisted services such as credit and calling card billing, third party billing, and person-to-person calling billed to credit cards, travel cards, collect calls, or one's own home phone. Under the terms of the agreement, Phone1 will also provide China Netcom with a future offering of US domestic toll-free service that will terminate in China.

China Netcom granted Phone1 a six-digit access number of 108719 that callers can dial from any phone within China to access Phone1's Operator Service Platform. Phone1 is the first non-tier-one international carrier to secure such an agreement with China Netcom and joins companies like British Telecom, MCI, Sprint and AT&T in having China-wide access agreements with China Netcom.