SingTel to Construct C2C Cable Network

SINGAPORE, July 18, 2000 --Singapore Telecoms Ltd. (SingTel) said it will invest US$2 billion to construct a pan-Asian submarine cable system, the City-to-City (C2C) cable network.

The C2C cable network will have a capacity of 7.5 terabits per second and will stretch 17,000 km--linking Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Singapore and China. It is expected to commence operations in the third quarter of 2001.

Internet traffic comprised just 14 percent of total global telecommunications traffic in 1999. This figure is expected to increase to 82 percent in 2005. Asia will contribute much of this growth.

SingTel has formed a subsidiary, called C2C (Bermuda) Pte Ltd, to oversee the C2C cable project. The other investors of C2C Pte Ltd include SingTel, Globe Telecom, the second largest mobile operator in the Philippines, South Korea's GNG Networks Inc, Hong Kong's iAdvantage, Japan's KDDI-SCS, Taiwan's New Century Infocomm Co, U.S.'s Tycom Asia Networks and U.S. venture capitalist Norwest Venture Partners.

So far, two global submarine cable manufacturers--Tyco Submarine Systems Ltd (TSSL) and KDD Submarine Cable Systems--have been given the cable supply contract.

Without elaborating, SingTel also said that it is in the process of finalizing discussions with some companies, including network suppliers and those which land the cables, to take equity in C2C.