"The Mid-Atlantic Crossing project continues Global Crossing's commitment of providing low cost, high-quality capacity on demand in a carrier friendly approach," said Gary Wimick, Global Crossing Ltd. co-chairman. "The combination of Mid-Atlantic Crossing with Atlantic Crossing (AC-1), will give carriers the most efficient connectivity between Europe, the United States Eastern seaboard, Bermuda, the Caribbean and, through interconnection with other cables, Central and South America."
Mid-Atlantic Crossing will be a self-healing ring configuration that connects Global Crossing's Ltd. AC-1 Brookhaven Long Island station via TBI's cable station in Bermuda, from Bermuda to the Caribbean, from the Caribbean to Florida and from Florida to New York. The full system is expected to be operational in the first half of 1999.
"TBI views this impressive project as a logical expansion of the network we have started with our BUS-1 cable, which commenced service last month between Bermuda and the Northeast seaboard," said Michael Kedar, chairman of TBI. "By expanding our system, we will be turning Bermuda into an important telecommunications hub to meet the exploding traffic needs across the Atlantic."
Global Crossing Ltd. is the name recently selected by Global Telesystems Ltd., owner of the Atlantic Crossing cable, to better reflect the strong market acceptance of Atlantic Crossing and the request by various customers for "Crossing" projects in other parts of the world. Global Crossing Ltd. and TBI will oversee the procurement and operation of the new cable segments with Global Crossing Ltd. handling the selling of capacity on the Mid-Atlantic Crossing system.
The AC-1 submarine cable system spans more than 14,000 kilometers, connecting the United States to the United Kingdom, Netherlands and Germany via a self-healing ring utilizing the latest technology. Service is scheduled to commence in May 1998.
Global Crossing Ltd. develops state-of-the-art sub-sea telecommunications cable systems to satisfy the increasing demand for high quality, reliable undersea transmission capacity. Global Crossing Ltd. is capitalized by a group of international investors led by California-based Pacific Capital Group, Inc.
TeleBermuda International Limited is a publicly traded, fully licensed, international telecommunications company based in Bermuda. The company's fiber-optic cable system - known as "BUS-1", supports a full range of advanced digital telecommunications services for the Bermuda market. As part of the joint venture, BUS-1 will be integrated with the new segments to be constructed.