Enjoy.
Fez
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Tuesday October 17, 11:33 pm Eastern Time
Press Release
SOURCE: Asia Global Crossing Ltd.
Asia Global Crossing Awards NEC East Asia Crossing Phase 2 Contract
- Phase 2 will add Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines to East Asia Crossing, the first pan-Asian network
- Initial ready-for-service by year-end 2001
- Turnkey contract worth $475 million
- At 2.56 terabit, East Asia Crossing will be the highest capacity cable deployed in the region
HAMILTON, Bermuda, Oct. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Asia Global Crossing Ltd. (Nasdaq: AGCX - news) announced today that it has awarded NEC Corporation of Japan the construction contract for Phase 2 of East Asia Crossing that will add Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines to the region's first and fastest pan-Asian network. The contract is worth approximately $475 million on a turnkey basis.
(Photo: newscom.com )
Upon completion, East Asia Crossing will be the first and only truly regional network, connecting Japan, Taiwan, Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines and, when regulations permit, China. At 2.56 terabits, East Asia Crossing will also be the fastest system deployed in the region.
In addition to providing pan-Asia connectivity, East Asia Crossing will also provide seamless global connectivity by linking with Asia Global Crossing's subsea system Pacific Crossing, the only non-consortia link in service between the U.S. and Japan; Global Access Limited, a 1,560 route kilometer Japanese terrestrial network; and the rest of the Global Crossing Network, which will link more than 200 major cities worldwide.
Under the terms of the contract, NEC will deliver Phase 2 connecting Hong Kong to Singapore in ready-for-service condition in the fourth quarter of 2001.
Phase 2 will add about 7,900 kilometers of undersea fiber optic cable to the system, bringing East Asia Crossing to approximately 19,500 kilometers. East Asia Crossing will use bi-directional transport capacity shared over four fiber pairs and state-of-the-art dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) technology. It will form multiple self-healing rings, providing internal restoration capability in the event of a link outage.
The announcement of this final phase of construction, when combined with the expected year-end delivery of the Japan to Hong Kong link, and first-half 2001 delivery of the link between Taiwan and Korea, ensures that East Asia Crossing will be the first pan-Asian network in operation.
``The contracting of Phase 2 of East Asia Crossing to NEC, a company with an excellent record, demonstrates Asia Global Crossing's commitment to be the first to connect the fast-growing markets of East Asia -- Japan, Taiwan, Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Hong Kong, and China. With confirmed construction and delivery dates, something that no other announced pan-Asian system can claim at this time, East Asia Crossing will be the first system to serve the entire region,'' said John Legere, Asia Global Crossing chief executive officer. ``For the first time, the important business centers of Asia will have unprecedented access not only to each other, but to all the major business centers globally because of the seamless integration with the worldwide Global Crossing Network. For enterprises doing business within Asia or between Asia and the rest of the world, East Asia Crossing will be the first and fastest connectivity solution.''
``The arrival of the Internet is bringing millions of people in East Asia into daily contact with information technology and generating a new information infrastructure organized around mobile and broadband networks,'' said Dr. Mineo Sugiyama, Senior Executive Vice President of NEC Corporation and also President of NEC Networks Company. ``This contract to construct Phase 2 of East Asia Crossing is a great opportunity for NEC to help build the future of Asia's emerging Internet society and to help connect Asia seamlessly to the global economy.'' |
