MCI WorldCom One Of The Founding Investors To Build Cable Connecting Africa, Europe And Asia
WASHINGTON, D.C. - JUNE 18, 1999 - MCI WorldCom, the
world's largest owner of global fiber-optic undersea cable systems,
will expand its broadband Internet and data access in Africa as one of
the founding investors in the SAT-3/WASC/SAFE submarine cable systems.
The cable will have the highest capacity and is the most advanced ever
in the region connecting South Africa with Europe and Asia.
The cable provides the first undersea fiber-optic service route
between Portugal and Malaysia with landings in Senegal, Cote
d'Ivoire, Ghana, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, Angola, South
Africa with onward connections to South East Asia in Mauritius, Reunion
and Malaysia. Cable construction will begin immediately with commercial
services ready by the first quarter of 2001.
"The SAT3/WASC/SAFE cable offers tremendous economic expansion
opportunities for Africa, Europe and Asia at the cusp of the
millennium," said Seth Blumenfeld, president and COO,
International Services and Correspondent, MCI WorldCom.
Of the world's six regions, Africa is the fourth fastest-growing
with a 13 percent traffic increase on outbound routes trailing behind
Asia, Oceania and North America. Africa's sorely needed bandwidth
is largely driven by Internet demand and new technologies. The region
generates 2 percent of the world's international traffic.
The long-awaited SAT-3/WASC/SAFE (Southern Africa-Western Africa and
South Africa-Far East) cable will dramatically ease current terrestrial
and fiber optic capacity constraints caused by high Internet demand by
transmitting at least 40 gigabits/second. The cable will lower
carriers' costs by making them less dependent on pricier
alternative routes to deliver capacity. The system is upgradeable to 80
Gbps -120 Gbps.
Once the cable is completed, MCI WorldCom will offer fiber-optic
based International Private Line Services to widespread countries in
Africa including Senegal, Ghana, Nigeria and Angola.
MCI WorldCom through its correspondent relationship with Telkom S.A.
Ltd., provides a comprehensive portfolio of data, Internet and voice
services ranging from International Private Line, On-Net Voice and
Frame Relay Services, Internet, WorldPhone Calling Card Services and
traditional public network voice services. The company is currently
working with Telkom S.A. Ltd. and other African and Asia correspondents
to expand our long relationship and service portfolio to take advantage
of the fast-growing opportunities in the emerging markets.
Some of the other investors in the cable are Telkom S.A. Ltd.;
Angola Telecom; OPT Benin; Camtel (Cameroon); Cote D'Ivoire
Telecom; C&W (UK); Ghana Telecom; OPT Gabon; Marconi (Portugal);
Namibia Telecom; Nitel (Nigeria); Onatel (Burkina Faso); Sonatel
(Senegal), Sonitel (Niger), Sotalgui (Guinea Conakry); Teleglobe USA
and Togo Telecom.
MCI WorldCom is a global leader in communications services with 1998
revenues of more than $30 billion and established operations in over 65
countries encompassing the Americas, Europe and the Asia-Pacific
regions. MCI WorldCom is a premier provider of facilities-based and
fully integrated local, long distance, international and Internet
services. MCI WorldCom's global networks, including its
state-of-the-art pan-European network and transoceanic cable systems,
provide end-to-end high-capacity connectivity to more than 40,000
buildings worldwide. MCI WorldCom is traded on Nasdaq under WCOM. For
more information on MCI WorldCom, visit the World Wide Web at
http://www.wcom.com.
