China Carrier, Partners Buy Undersea Cables

Communications Today, Nov 20, 2002

Government-owned China Netcom and a group of investors are buying undersea fiber-optics networks owned by Asia Global Crossing, a subsidiary of Global Crossing [GBLXQ], which soon will be 61 percent-owned by Hong Kong-based Hutchison Whampoa and Singapore Technologies Telemedia. Global Crossing owns 59 percent of Asia Global Crossing.

The deal include undersea cables connecting Hong Kong, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan. It excludes the cables linking Japan with the United States, which will be sold as a separate package later. The partners are committing at least $270 million to the purchase and running of the undersea networks, which will be aggregated under the name Asia Netcom Corp. Ltd. when the deal closes early next year. For more on this and other hot topics within the fiber-optics sector, read the latest edition of Fiber Optics News. For subscription information, visit the "newsstand" at http://www.TelecomWeb.com.

[Copyright 2002 PBI Media, LLC. All rights reserved.]