Telstra Joins Planning High-Capacity Cable Network

Telstra Joins Planning For Asian High-Capacity Cable Network

TO NEWS EDITOR:

Sydney, Australia, June 17, 1999/MediaNet International-AsiaNet/- -Telstra has joined nine other leading telecommunications companies and signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the planning of a high-capacity fibre-optic submarine cable network in the Asia- Pacific region. The signing ceremony took place in Kunming, China on 16 June 1999.

The nine other signatories to the MOU are China Telecom, Chunghwa Telecom (Taiwan), Cable & Wireless HKT (Hong Kong), Japan Telecom, Korea Telecom, KDD Corporation (Japan), NTT Worldwide Networks (Japan), Singapore Telecom and Telekom Malaysia.

The planned new cable would be a follow-on to the Asia Pacific Cable Network (APCN) cable which has been in service, for two and a half years, to help meet the burgeoning requirement for international bandwidth in the region.

The planning provides that, when ready in the year 2002, the APCN2 cable will connect Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore, and will lead to a multi-fold increase in telecommunications cable capacity in the region.

State-of-the-art 640 gigabits per second per fibre-optic pair, and Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) technology, will provide upgradable, "future-proof" transmission facilities to support Internet and e-commerce.

The proposed APCN2 will have a 'self-healing ring configuration' with four fibre-optic pairs, equipping it with greater network resilience and route diversity.

Telstra's Managing Director Global Wholesale, Mr John Hibbard, commented, "As a major owner in the existing Asia Pacific Cable Network, and the SEA-ME-WE 3 cable which will come into service later this year, Telstra is pleased to be involved with other major players in the planning of important regional infrastructure.

"Additional capacity between Singapore and Japan will be an important element in supporting Telstra's international business plans; it will also complement our investments in large north Pacific projects under construction, namely the China-US and Japan- US cables.

"This and other plans are all part of Telstra's emerging global network strategy which will underpin its status as one of the world's leading communications companies," he said.

"We're currently considering or engaged in a series of projects with potential significance for our future as a major regional and global player. You can expect to hear more about some of these plans in the very near future."

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