More components going under.....
Telcos plan Asia-America undersea optical cable
BEIJING, Oct 30 (Reuters) - Seven telecom companies,
including a unit of Japan's NTT <9432.T>, Korea Telecom
<30200.KS> and China Telecom have agreed to construct an
Asia-America fibre optic cable, the official People's Daily said
on Monday.
It said the companies, along with Taiwan's Chunghwa Telecom
<2412.TW>, Japan Telecom <9434.T> and U.S. firms Metromedia Fiber
Network <MFNX.O> and Williams <WMB.N> signed a memorandum of
understanding on Saturday to link five countries and regions in
Asia and America with the cable.
Scheduled to begin operation in 2002, the submarine
Asia-America Network (AAN) could be extended to other countries,
the paper said.
Asian telecom companies are racing to build vast undersea
cables to carry increasing amounts of data around the region and
the rest of the world.
A consortium of Asia's biggest telecom names, including
Australia's Telstra <TLS.AX> and Singapore Telecom <TELE.SI> are
building the Asia Pacific Cable Network 2, which links eight
Asian countries and is set to be completed in September 2001.
Telstra and Hong Kong's Pacific Century CyberWorks <0008.HK>
confirmed earlier this month they are in talks to build an
undersea cable network initially linking Asia, North America and
Europe.
The companies are expected to invest up to $4 billion in the
venture.
((Sarah Cheung, Beijing Newsroom, Tel +8610 6586-5566 ext 268,
Fax +8610 8527-5258 beijing.newsroom@reuters.com))
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*** end of story ***
The world is whole lot more than AT&T, WCOM
Somebody will build it. |
