Asia Netcom Merges EAC and C2C Networks

Singapore, September 13th, 2007 - Asia Netcom, a company of Connect Holdings which also owns the C2C cable network, announced Thursday that it has merged the East Asia Crossing (EAC) system with the C2C cable network, and will take full control of the combined EAC-C2C submarine cable network.

The C2C network spans 17,000km and comprises three rings linking Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, China, South Korea, the Philippines and Japan. The EAC network stretches 19,500km with multiple ring configuration linking 8 cable landing stations in Singapore, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, South Korea and Japan.

The integration of the EAC network and the C2C network into a single system -- with dual landings and 33 PoPs (Points-of-Presence) in key markets -- marks a new milestone in the company's focus on strengthening its position as the region's leading provider of next-generation communications solutions.

The combined EAC-C2C network platform has a US$4 billion replacement value with a retail value of US$10.3 billion in today's market. The integrated infrastructure also gives the company management flexibility while offering industry-leading infrastructure resiliency and enhanced route diversity and protection.

The combined EAC-C2C infrastructure enables Asia Netcom to strengthen its PoPs and Cable Landing Station resilience through full interconnection between the two systems. At this time, interconnections to the combined EAC-C2C network have been established in Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan. Together, the two networks span more than 36,800 km across key markets in Asia Pacific including China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and the Philippines and has a total design capacity of 10.24Tbps.

With this combined EAC-C2C network, Asia Netcom will ensure a much quicker recovery of the system in the event of a natural disaster, such as last year's Taiwan quake.