Kpnqwest Joint Venture Completes First "Euroring" Network
High-Capacity Pan-European Fiber Optic Network to Deliver Advanced Data Services 60 days Ahead of Schedule
DENVER--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 28, 1999-- Qwest Communications International Inc. and KPN, the Dutch telecommunications company, today announced KPNQwest, their planned joint venture, has completed the first of six EuroRings(TM), and is now providing service to Amsterdam, Antwerp, Brussels, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Paris, Rotterdam and Strasbourg. This EuroRing will extend 1,468 miles (2,416 kilometers).
''By completing the first EuroRing on our pan-European network two months ahead of schedule, we can accelerate our entry into the European data market and deliver advanced Internet protocol (IP)- based services to Europe's largest economic centers,'' said Jack McMaster, acting CEO of KPNQwest. ''Our customers will benefit by the venture delivering on the promises we made when our partnership was announced in mid-November.'' The joint venture is expected to close at the end of the first quarter of 1999 pending regulatory approvals.
KPNQwest will offer broadband services, as well as IP-based services designed for companies of all sizes. Through KPNQwest's enormous amount of transatlantic capacity, the EuroRing network will be linked by the end of the first quarter in 1999 to Qwest's technologically advanced 18,500-mile U.S. fiber optic network.
By April, 1999, Qwest will enable businesses in North America who have affiliates, customers and suppliers in Europe to seamlessly interconnect via a variety of Qwest's data services, including broadband private line, frame relay, ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) and IP-based VPNs (Virtual Private Networks).
KPNQwest's pan-European high-capacity fiber optic network consists of bi-directional self-healing ''EuroRings'' for uninterrupted service. By the year 2000, KPNQwest plans to construct five additional rings connecting up to 40 major western, central and eastern European cities. Designed to transmit capacity at up to two terabits per second, the KPNQwest network will carry more information faster than any other communications network. More information about the planned KPNQwest joint venture can be found at jv.eu.net
|
