MFNX/Viatel/Carrier 1: A German National Telecommunications Network
Mark,
My charts look like a Sea of Red, except for this stock. Could the following be the answer as to why? Or is it something else? Frank C.
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Viatel, Metromedia Fiber Network and Carrier 1 to
Create A German National Telecommunications Network
PR Newswire - August 21, 1998 08:43
NEW YORK, Aug. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Viatel Inc. (Nasdaq: VYTL), Metromedia Fiber Network (Nasdaq: MFNX) and Carrier 1 Holdings Ltd. jointly announced today an agreement to build a national fiber optic telecommunications network in Germany.
The infrastructure expansion would extend the German portion of Viatel's Circe Pan-European Network ring approximately 1,800 kilometers, covering Dortmund, Bremen, Hamburg, Berlin, Leipzig, Nuremberg, and Munich in addition to Essen, Dusseldorf, Cologne, Frankfurt and Stuttgart, as previously announced. This represents a significant expansion of Viatel's original infrastructure plans in Germany and will bring the total Circe route kilometers to approximately 5,500.
The Circe Pan-European Network will link Belgium, France, Germany, The Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. The German portion of the network, consistent with the overall Circe Network, will be a high-capacity broadband network capable of supporting high-quality voice, video, Internet Protocol and data services. It will be a self-healing ring employing state-of-the-art technologies, such as Lucent's latest generation TruWave RS glass and dense- wave division multiplexing.
Initially, Viatel, Metromedia Fiber Network and Carrier 1 will jointly develop the German network,with Viatel owning just over half of the development entity. Upon completion of construction, each of the Companies will own its own separate German broadband network. Construction shall be completed in stages, with the first segment expected to be available by the second or third quarter of 1999.
"We are excited about our agreement with Carrier 1 and Metromedia Fiber Network," said Michael J. Mahoney, Viatel's Chief Executive Officer. "With their participation, we will be able to construct a 2,300 kilometer national network in Germany for approximately the same amount of capital previously committed to the 500 kilometer Western Germany portion of the Circe network."
Stig Johansson, Carrier l's President, and Howard Finkelstein, Metromedia Fiber Network's President, were equally effusive about the opportunities presented. "This network infrastructure, coupled with our other initiatives, will enable Carrier 1 to provide voice and data customers with the most advanced, cost-effective telecommunications services in Europe," Mr. Johansson said.
Mr. Finkelstein added, "This agreement creates a platform for our U.S. customers to expand their high-bandwidth communications capabilities into the heart of the growing European market. We view this as an outstanding opportunity to capitalize on the rapidly expanding demand for bandwidth-intensive applications by high-capacity users on both sides of the Atlantic."
Viatel is a facilities-based, global provider of telecommunications services. It offers high-quality, competitively-priced, national and international long-distance services -- primarily to small and medium-sized businesses, carriers and resellers -- in over 230 countries and territories worldwide.
Headquartered in New York, Viatel is a publicly traded company on the Nasdaq stock exchange (VYTL). Viatel currently operates one of the largest alternative Pan-European networks, with international gateway switching centers in New York and London, network points of presence in over 30 cities, a direct sales force in nine Western European cities, and indirect sales offices in more than 100 additional locations in Western Europe.
Carrier 1 is a facilities-based telecommunications carrier serving the wholesale market for long-distance voice, Internet Protocol, and data services to, from and within Europe. Headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, the company has offices in London, Frankfurt, Amsterdam and New York.
Carrier I will launch its extensive roll-out of global voice and IP services on September 1, 1998.
Metromedia Fiber Network provides technologically advanced, high- bandwidth, private, fiber optic communications infrastructure within major U.S. markets. The Company provides its infrastructure to communications carriers competing in the local, long distance, wireless, and Internet markets as well as corporate and government customers requiring secure communications networks for the transmission of large amounts of voice, data, and video. Metromedia Fiber Network currently operates a fiber optic metropolitan area network in New York and is developing local fiber optic infrastructure along strategic routes in Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Boston, the San Francisco Bay area and Silicon Valley, and an inter-city link between New York and Washington D.C. The Company has established a joint venture, known as ION(TM), with Racal Telecom of the United Kingdom and began providing international bandwidth capacity between the United States and the United Kingdom in 1998.
The transaction is contingent upon both Carrier I and Metromedia Fiber Network meeting certain financing requirements. |
