ALA won 1 billion Fibar-Optic contract:
Alcatel Wins Pacific Fiber-Optic Cable Order From Flag Telecom
By Daniel Tilles
Alcatel Wins Pacific Fiber-Optic Cable Order From Flag Telecom
Paris, March 29 (Bloomberg) -- Alcatel SA, Europe's No. 2
phone-equipment maker, won a contract from Flag Telecom Holdings
Ltd. to build a fiber-optic cable system across the Pacific Ocean,
a project Flag valued at $2.1 billion.
Alcatel will build a Dense Wave Division Multiplexing system,
or DWDM, that will enable the rapid transmission of voice, data,
Internet and video information linking Tokyo, Vancouver, Los
Angeles, Seattle and San Francisco. Alcatel's share of the Flag
Pacific-1 contract exceeds 50 percent of the total, in excess of
$1.05 billion, a person familiar with the project said.
Neither Paris-based Alcatel nor Flag would comment on the
value of the contract to Alcatel.
The cable system for Bermuda-based Flag, which carries voice
and data traffic for phone companies worldwide, began operating in
November 1997 and stretches more than 28,000 kilometers from the
U.K. to Japan. This latest trans-Pacific cable project is
scheduled to start operation in early 2002, with full service
beginning later in the year.
``The Pacific route is projected to become one of the world's
largest over the next few years as the combination of strong
regional economic recovery, Internet adoption in Asia and the
continued explosive growth of Internet content in the U.S. drives
traffic levels to new heights,' Andres Bande, Flag chairman and
chief executive, said in a statement.
Shares of Alcatel fell 4.6 euros, or 1.9 percent, to
238.5 euros in Paris.
Flag shares fell 1 9/32, or 4.9 percent, to 24 31/32 in
midafternoon U.S. trading. Flag shares were first sold to the
public Feb. 10 at 24 each, and rose as high as 44 on Feb. 17.
Flag's shareholders include Bell Atlantic Corp., Asian
Infrastructure Fund, AT&T Corp.'s AT&T Capital unit and General
Electric Co.'s GE Capital unit.
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