FLAG Telecom plans $300mn undersea cable

FLAG Telecom unveiled plans on Tuesday for a new undersea cable looping West Asia and Hong Kong through India, as it looks to tap booming demand for telecoms capacity in those regions. FLAG, acquired last year by Reliance Infocomm, said the 12,500-km terabit cable, due to be in service in early 2005, was expected to cost over $300 million.

In its main business, FLAG lays cable under the ocean and sells bandwidth to telecoms and Internet firms. Chief executive Patrick Gallagher said that FLAG would bear the funding for the project, called FALCON, with backing from Reliance with interests spanning petrochemicals, refining and telecom.

FLAG said one leg of the cable would travel under the sea from Egypt to Mumbai, traversing countries such as Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait, Iran, Qatar and Iraq in West Asia. From Mumbai, a terrestrial cable owned by the Reliance will link it to a landing station in Chennai, from where it will be connected undersea to Hong Kong, where it will join its global network. (Reuters)