AT&T AND FINOLEX ANNOUNCE FIBER OPTIC CABLE JOINT VENTURE

Business Wire, Nov 23, 1994

NEW DELHI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 23, 1994--AT&T Network Cable Systems and Finolex Cables Ltd. announced the formation of a joint venture company, AT&T Finolex Fiber Optic Cables Ltd. The new company will manufacture LXE Lightpack(R) Fiber Optic Cables for use in telecommunications and commercial applications.

India is one of the world's fastest-growing markets for telecommunications products and services, especially in fiber optics. The new company, AT&T's third manufacturing joint venture in India, will be located near Pune in the state of Maharashtra and will begin production in early 1996. Annual production capacity is estimated at more than $20 million of cable. AT&T will own 51% and Finolex, 49%, of the company.

"We are excited about the potential for using the product, technology and infrastructure support strengths of both AT&T and our partner, Finolex, to serve customers in India," said Bala T. Kuchinad, President, AT&T India. "This joint venture is another example of AT&T's commitment to the rapid modernization of telecommunications throughout India."

The Finolex Group is one of the fastest-growing organizations in India and is a leading manufacturer of electrical and telecom cables. It is the largest manufacturer of rigid PVC pipes and jelly-filled telephone cables in the country. Finolex recently received IS 14002/ISO 9002 systems certification across all product lines and plants.

Finolex also has joint ventures with other multinational companies, and has interests in diversified industries such as extrusion systems, drip irrigation and calendared PVC/polycarbonate products.

"We are joining hands to provide more efficient products to our customers with high quality fiber optic cables, said Pralhad P. Chhabria, chairman, Finolex. "Fiber optic cables will bring more efficiency to the long distance network, and will ultimately make it possible to bring broadband applications into densely-populated business areas."

AT&T has expanded its operations in India through joint ventures and alliances with its local partners. AT&T's other joint ventures in India are AT&T Switching Systems (India) Pvt. Ltd., a partnership with Tata Industries Ltd., and Trans-India Network Systems (India) Pvt. Ltd., a joint venture with Tata Telecom Ltd.

AT&T Network Systems has more than 27 joint ventures around the world. The company is a worldwide manufacturer and marketer of network telecommunications products, offering communications service providers virtually everything they need to build and operate their wireless and wireline networks. The group's major businesses in the Asia/Pacific region are in transmission, switching, cellular, network cable systems, operations systems and services.

AT&T, a global communications and computer company, was recently awarded the Deming Award in Japan, the Taiwan National Quality Award, and its third Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award in the United States. It operates the world's biggest and most advanced long distance network and provides communications services and products, as well as network equipment and computer systems, to businesses, consumers, telecommunications service providers and government agencies.

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