CTExcel no longer exists. It was China Telecom Americas’ prepaid MVNO for Chinese speakers in the United States, and it stopped serving customers on January 3, 2022 after the FCC revoked the parent company’s US operating authority.
CTExcel is gone
The FCC adopted an order on October 26, 2021 revoking China Telecom (Americas) Corporation’s authority to provide telecommunications services in the United States and gave it 60 days to stop. CTExcel’s own site then posted a suspension notice: China Telecom Americas exited US wireless resale by January 3, 2022 and provisioned no CTExcel mobile service after that date.
If you had a CTExcel line
No carrier inherited CTExcel’s customers. The FCC told CTExcel subscribers to pick any other provider before the cutoff and to port the number before service stopped; CTExcel issued the account number and PIN by text message on request. A number that was not ported before January 3, 2022 was released, so run it through a carrier lookup before you try to port it.
How CTExcel ended
- May 2015: China Telecom Americas launched CTExcel in the United States, a prepaid service for Chinese students and immigrants with a US number and a virtual Chinese number on one SIM.
- October 26, 2021: The FCC adopted an order revoking China Telecom Americas’ US telecommunications authority on national-security grounds, with 60 days to discontinue service; the order was released November 2, 2021.
- November 12, 2021: The FCC published a consumer guide, in English and Chinese, telling CTExcel customers to find another provider and port their numbers before January 3, 2022.
- January 3, 2022: CTExcel stopped provisioning mobile service. Its site carried a suspension notice through 2022.
The history of CTExcel
CTExcel was the US arm of China Telecom’s overseas MVNO program, which also ran in the United Kingdom from 2012 and France from 2013. CTExcel sold prepaid plans to Chinese speakers in the United States, with bilingual support, dual US and Chinese numbers, and cheap calling to China. It never owned towers; it resold a US network, reported as T-Mobile. The end had nothing to do with the service. In 2021 the FCC found the state-owned parent could be made to follow Chinese government requests and revoked China Telecom Americas’ US authority. CTExcel exited by January 3, 2022, and its customers scattered to other carriers.
How to find who holds an old number now
- Check an old bill or payment record. It names the company that billed you last.
- Run the number through a carrier lookup tool. It shows the carrier that holds the number today.
- Call that carrier and ask for the account number and transfer PIN.
- Start the port from the new carrier. Never cancel the old line first.
Your right to keep a number
Number portability is federal law, not a carrier policy. The rule is the FCC’s: Portability: Keeping Your Phone Number When Changing Service Providers.
How we verified CTExcel
Best Cellular tracks active carriers and defunct ones. We keep both, because people still search for brands that no longer exist. Every fact on this CTExcel page comes from at least two independent sources, listed below, and we leave a detail out when no source states it. Where sources disagree, this page says so. If you can document a correction, tell us and we will check it against the sources.
Tracked and active are different counts on this site. CTExcel counts in our tracked total, not in our active total, so it does not appear in tools built for live carriers.
Questions about CTExcel
Is CTExcel still available?
No. China Telecom Americas exited the US wireless resale business by January 3, 2022 under an FCC order, and CTExcel stopped serving customers that day.
Which network did CTExcel use?
Wikipedia’s MVNO list records T-Mobile, citing CTExcel’s own 2019 coverage page; CTExcel never named the network on a page we could read, so we report it rather than confirm it.
Why did CTExcel shut down?
The FCC revoked China Telecom Americas’ authority to provide telecommunications services in the United States on national-security grounds, in an order adopted October 26, 2021. CTExcel was a section 214 service, so it had to stop.
Where were customers sent?
Nowhere in particular. The FCC guide told customers to choose any other provider and port before the cutoff; CTExcel sent the account number and PIN by text on request.
Does BestCellular.com list CTExcel as an active carrier?
No. CTExcel counts in our tracked total, not in our active total, and it appears on our list of carriers that shut down rather than in the port-out and coverage tools.
Sources and verification
Facts checked October 11, 2026 against at least two independent sources:
- FCC: Consumer guide on the discontinuance of China Telecom (Americas) services (November 12, 2021): the January 3, 2022 cutoff and the instruction to port before then.
- FCC: Order on Revocation and Termination, China Telecom (Americas) Corporation (adopted October 26, 2021, released November 2, 2021): the revocation and the 60-day discontinuance deadline.
- CTExcel: Service Suspension Notice (archived March 28, 2022): the first-party statement that CTA exited wireless resale by January 3, 2022.
- US Mobile: Stranded CTExcel customer? We’ve got you covered (December 10, 2021): the shutdown date and how CTExcel issued the account number and PIN.
- Wikipedia: List of mobile virtual network operators in the United States: the T-Mobile host listing and the May 2015 launch.
Best Cellular. “CTExcel: What Happened,” BestCellular.com. https://bestcellular.com/ctexcel/
Free to reuse with credit. Licence, sources and the full dataset. All defunct carriers are listed on carriers that shut down.
Live carriers to look at instead
No carrier took over CTExcel’s customers. These carriers publish their network and run today.