SingTel plans new submarine cable

SingTel plans new submarine cable

SINGAPORE: Singapore's largest telecommunications provider
said on Monday it will invest in a US$500 million undersea cable
that will link 14 countries in Western Europe, the Middle East
and Southeast Asia.

The cable, which will span some 20,000 kilometers (12,000
miles) and carry telephone, Internet and broadband data streams,
is expected to be ready for service in the third quarter of 2005,
Singapore Telecommunications said in a statement.

SingTel said the cable system - Southeast Asia-Middle East-
Western Europe 4 - will connect France, Algeria, Tunisia, Italy,
Egypt, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, Sri Lanka,
India, Bangladesh, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore.

The main contractors for the project are France's Alcatel
Submarine Networks and Japan's Fujitsu but the project will be
financed by an additional 14 international telecommunications
companies, including SingTel, the statement said. It did not list
the other financiers.

SingTel will invest some US$40 million, the company said.

"It will be a timely response to bandwidth demand in these
regions," SingTel said, adding that existing cable networks were
reaching their maximum capacity.--AFP