Industry news:
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THIS JUST IN 05/04/1999
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Another Billion-dollar Fiber Build Proposed for the Atlantic
GlobeNet Communications Group Ltd. (St. David's, Bermuda) reports that it has discussed plans to build the Atlantica Cable Network, a private system that will connect North America, Bermuda, South America, and Europe, with more than 100 global carriers.
GlobeNet has enlisted Alcatel as its turnkey supplier. The vendor will supply the first phase of the project, Atlantica-1, to be ready for service by fourth quarter 2000 at a cost of $1 billion, GlobeNet reports. Atlantica-1 will comprise approximately 22,000 km of optical fiber cable with six landing points in four countries. With a transatlantic crossing via Bermuda, GlobeNet expects Atlantica-1 to be the first private cable system between North America and South America.
The company is examining the feasibility of implementing Atlantica-2, which would be ready by the year 2002 with cable connecting Bermuda with Spain, Portugal, Italy, and the UK.
While most undersea cable routes in the Atlantic Ocean region have been east to west, GlobeNet intends to tap the north-to-south market with Atlantica. Current demand forecasts indicate an annual growth rate of 75% to 100% in traffic between North and South America, driven largely by Internet users, according to GlobeNet.
Interconnectivity
Using dedicated backhaul facilities, GlobeNet plans to offer both landing station access and city-to-city connectivity. Initial cities include Miami, Atlanta, Boston, Washington, DC, and New York City as well as Caracas, Sao Paolo, Rio de Janeiro, and Buenos Aires.
GlobeNet also intends to connect to major European business centers in western Europe via several new transatlantic cable systems, including a TAT-14 extension initially. Atlantica-1 also will connect with several existing and planned cable systems at each of its landing points, including the ARCOS system in Florida and Venezuela and the Pan American system in Venezuela. The connections provide connectivity to Central America and the Caribbean and between South and Central America, respectively.
In Bermuda, GlobeNet's headquarters, the system will provide capacity at the cable station, where carriers can set up hubbing operations for least-cost routing and e-commerce activities. Bermuda's offshore benefits for these activities include proximity to the United States, favorable regulatory environment, and low taxes, GlobeNet notes.
"Our unique vision is to become a leading global player, not only by competing aggressively across the board on price, quality, and service, but also by maintaining our neutrality as a 'carrier's carrier,'" says Mike Kedar, GlobeNet chairman and CEO. Kedar founded several major companies in Canada, including alternative long distance carrier Call-Net (Sprint Canada) and Microcell, a national PCS carrier.
GlobeNet is an independent developer of international fiber-optic cable facilities and a licensed international telecommunications carrier in Bermuda, through its wholly-owned subsidiary, TeleBermuda International Limited. Through TeleBermuda, GlobeNet has been providing a full range of international telecommunications services in Bermuda since its establishment in April 1997.
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