RCom awards 1.5 bn US Dollar contract to Fujitsu

Mumbai, Sep 3 (UNI) Private telecom major Reliance Communications (RCom) today announced that it has awarded 1.5 billion US Dollars turnkey contract to Japanese telecommunication company Fujitsu to construct Flag next generation network worldwide.

The Flag Next Generation Network (NGN) Submarine Cable will involve construction of 4 new cable systems across Mediterranean, East Africa, Asia and Pacific region.

Upon completion, the Flag NGN cable will nearly double the length of existing Flag Global Network from 65,000 km to 115,000 kms.

The Flag NGN Project will be completed by 2009-10 to build the largest IP network over submarine cable systems.

RCom chairman Anil D Ambani said ''At the beginning of the year, we announced our USD 1.5 billion (Rs 6,000 crore) global expansion of Flag's Global NGN over the next few years. With completion of NGN cable, Flag will be the only service provider to reach over 60 countries on a privately owned cable system, coupled with the technology leadership, to deliver broadband multimedia communications.'' The Flag NGN, combined with Ethernet services leadership in the US through FLAG's Yipes (acquisition process is underway), will place Flag at the forefront of global data communications.

Flag Telecom, a wholly-owned subsidiary of RCom, provides the platform to datacom requirements of over 200 international telcos, content and internet service provider customers.

UNI