Global Crossing Advances Pan European Crossing; Necessary Licenses Obtained; Construction Proceeding on Schedule - Pan European Crossing - Company Business and Marketing

Cambridge Telcom Report, August 2, 1999

Global Crossing Ltd. (Nasdaq: GBLX), owner and operator of the first integrated global IP-based fiber optic network, announced Monday that it had obtained all necessary licenses and authorizations for the completion of its Pan European Crossing (PEC). Construction of the network is underway and on schedule for a December 31, 1999 initial service date for Phase I, which will connect 13 European cities.

The PEC system, an 11,000 kilometer (6,900 mile) terrestrial system, plus Global Crossing's newly-announced subsea Irish Ring, will ultimately provide fiber optic connectivity to 25 European metropolitan centers, connecting the cities to each other and to the rest of Global Crossing's global fiber optic network through the Atlantic Crossing-1 (AC-1) subsea cable. Global Crossing's AC-1 connects Continental Europe and the United Kingdom to the United States.

"Pan European Crossing is designed and constructed to provide the most capable and reliable connectivity in Europe," said Global Crossing's Chief Executive Officer, Bob Annunziata, "As a fully integrated part of our global owned-operated network, we're offering truly seamless service to customers with traffic to, from, or within Europe." When first announced in October 1998, the European network included 7,200 kilometers of fiber route. Subsequent expansion added six additional cities in Germany including Berlin, Munich, and Stuttgart, plus a subsea connection to Ireland, announced earlier this month. Further expansions are under active consideration, Annunziata noted.

Five System Rings

The PEC system includes five self-healing ring structures, which are being deployed in two phases.

Phase I consists of three rings connecting 13 cities, which are Amsterdam, Antwerp, Brussels, Cologne, Copenhagen, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hannover, London, Paris, Rotterdam and Strasbourg.

Phase II consists of two rings adding 11 new cities, which are Berlin, Dresden, Leipzig, Lyon, Marseille, Milan, Munich, Nuremberg, Stuttgart, Turin, and Zurich.

Irish Ring

On July 5, Global Crossing announced an Irish Ring that expands the PEC system to Dublin, Ireland in connection with an $80 million capacity purchase agreement with the Irish government. Undersea segments of the Irish Ring will run from Land's End in the UK to a landing near Kilmore Key, then backhaul on land to Dublin.

City Rings

Construction is scheduled to begin this fall for local city rings in the major cities on the PEC system, including London, Paris, Amsterdam, Hamburg and Copenhagen. These city ring systems will provide connectivity between the PEC system, its customers and other major systems operating in these cities, thereby providing seamless end-to-end connectivity for the customers.

Contracting and Implementation

Phase I: Global Crossing's duct and cable deployment program for Phase I is proceeding on schedule as trenching and cable laying operations continue in all relevant countries. Phase I is expected to be fully operational by the end of this year.

Phase II: Global Crossing has reached agreements in principle for the provisioning of the majority of the routes on Phase II of the PEC system (including critical segments of the southern Ring), and expects construction along Phase II routes to begin shortly. An Eastern Ring in Germany is expected to be operational by the end of the first quarter of 2000, and a Southern Ring in Switzerland, France and Italy is expected to be operational by the end of 2000.

Equipment From Lucent Technologies

Depending on the segment, the PEC system will deploy optical cabling that features from a minimum of 24 fiber-pair to a maximum of 72 fiber-pair. Utilizing DWDM technology, each fiber pair can carry up to 10 gigabits on each of 40 wavelengths. This allows for total transport capacity, under current design, of up to 9,600 gigabits per optical cable, although newer optical technologies now in the planning stages may increase that capacity significantly.

Under a contract awarded in January, Lucent is supplying Global Crossing with industry-leading fiber and optical network systems, such as Lucent's 80-channel WaveStar OLS 400G dense wave division multiplexing (DWDM) systems and the WaveStar BandWidth Manager. Also included under the contract is Lucent's TrueWave RS (reduced slope) optical fiber.

Global Crossing is building and operating the world's first and most advanced global IP-based datacentric network, an end-to-end fiber optic platform for data, voice, video and Internet transmissions. The Global Crossing Network will span five continents and address 80% of the world's international traffic. A new unit of Global Crossing, Global Marine Systems Limited, possesses the largest flotilla of cable laying and maintenance vessels in the world and currently services more than a third of the world's undersea cable kilometers. Global Crossing's operations are headquartered in Hamilton, Bermuda, with executive offices in Los Angeles.