IBM has reached a deal with state-owned China Telecom to offer and manage enterprise apps for Apple devices.

China Telecom, the country’s largest fixed-line operator and cloud provider, will host IBM’s MobileFirst service on its servers in China. To start with, 24 apps have been translated and additional ones will be added soon.

The first 10 MobileFirst for iOS apps were delivered in December 2014, targeting markets such as banking, retail, insurance, financial services, telecoms, governments and airlines.

IBM said a big part of the deal with China Telecom will be technology sharing. The US company’s strategy in China has been to build partnerships with local firms since the government has been increasingly encouraging state-run firms to use domestic tech suppliers over their foreign counterparts, Reuters said. Often pointing to cybersecurity issues, the Chinese government has drawn criticism from western firms for trying to protect local firms.

IBM has partnered with Apple to launch MobileFirst.

The Chinese government has unofficially banned the use of iPhones in certain government departments. An IBM representative said the agreement was forged before the new regulations were announced and couldn’t comment on how the policy would impact its MobileFirst business, Reuters reported.