AT Joins New Submarine Cable Consortium Linking Asia-pacific And United States
Hong Kong, March 25, 2007 -- AT Inc. (NYSE:T) today announced plans to increase the scope and resiliency of the company's global network by joining a
consortium to build a submarine cable network, named Trans-Pacific Express (TPE), that links Japan, mainland China,
Korea, Taiwan and the United States.
TPE is a new, high bandwidth fiber-optic submarine cable currently being built by a consortium that now includes AT The cable network can carry up to 5.12 terabits per second (Tbps) over a total of 18,000 kilometers. A China-U.S. route
is scheduled to be operating by August 2008, followed by the launch of a Japan-China route in March 2009.
As customers worldwide are experiencing an explosive surge in data, voice and video traffic, AT is strengthening its global network to meet their needs by offering more capacity and diversity throughout the world.
The TPE cable network will help AT meet that international demand, and the network will enhance reliability by providing more diversity for the traffic
that is generated throughout the Asia-Pacific region to the United States.
"We are committed to the continued expansion and diversification of our global network," said John Stankey, group
president of telecom operations for AT "As international demand for increased bandwidth continues to grow, AT is building a network to handle the requirements of our customers now and into the future. The Trans-Pacific Express
cable network will increase data and voice reliability, and it will enhance diversity and resiliency to AT customers."
AT owns or leases capacity on more than 70 submarine cable systems, which span more than 456,000 fiber-route miles around
the globe, including several submarine cable routes that the company uses to carry traffic between the Asia-Pacific
region and North America. Signifying its strong commitment to Asia, AT signed an agreement last year to help build the Asia-America Gateway (AAG) cable system, which is the first
high-bandwidth optical-fiber submarine cable system that goes from Southeast Asia direct to North America.
TPE routes will enhance AT's expansive, growing submarine cable network throughout Asia, providing higher capacity and diversity in the
Asia-Pacific and trans-Pacific regions. The submarine cable investments will be used to extend AT's intelligent optical network with optical mesh restoration.
Joining the TPE cable network consortium is one of many initiatives included in AT's planned US$1 billion investment in 2008 to continue expanding the company's industry-leading network of solutions for
multinational companies.
ENDS