The company began installation of the portion of its Atlantica-1 network from the beachhead to the territorial limits off the shores of Bermuda. Later this month, installation of the intercontinental segments of the cable will begin, joining the segment in Bermuda with Brazil.
"We're making Atlantica-1 a reality with the installation of the new submarine fiber optic cable," said Jorge Escalona, GlobeNet CEO. "We are leading the way in the paradigm shift from consortia cable providers to private suppliers of wholesale bandwidth, and cable installations. We are now into the home stretch in the race to be the first to arrive in South America."
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The first leg of the 1.28 Terabit network is on schedule to be activated in September, connecting North America and Brazil. "Lighting" of the cable will make GlobeNet the first independent cable system to bring faster, more advanced communications to Brazilians, while at the same time providing redundant ring routing for Bermuda.
In addition, construction of the landing stations is more than fifty percent completed in Tuckerton, NJ; Fortaleza, Brazil; Boca Raton, FL; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; and Punta Gorda, Venezuela.
In March it was announced that GlobeNet would be acquired by 360networks of Vancouver. The Atlantica-1 cable will be renamed 360americas when the 360networks acquisition is complete. 360networks (formerly known as Worldwide Fiber) offers broadband network services for telecommunications companies, ISPs, application service providers and data-centric enterprises. 360networks is completing a technologically advanced 90,300-kilometer (56,100-mile) network, including a fiber optic terrestrial network in North America and Europe and undersea cables linking North America, South America and Europe. 360networks and its predecessors have been developing communications networks since 1988. 360networks shares trade on the NASDAQ under the stock symbol TSIX and on the Toronto Stock Exchange as TSX. The acquisition of GlobeNet is pending various regulatory approvals and is expected to close in the second half of 2000.
GlobeNet Communications Group Limited is an independent developer of international fiber-optic cable facilities whose mission is to provide innovative, seamless, city-to-city international telecommunications solutions
to wholesale bandwidth purchasers using the most technologically advanced undersea fiber optic facilities currently available. Since 1997, it has provided international services through its wholly-owned, facilities-based subsidiary, TeleBermuda International Limited (TBI) using the company's BUS-1 undersea fiber optic cable system connecting Bermuda and the United States.
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TBI has captured more than 35 per cent of the market as the competitive second authorized provider of international service in Bermuda. TBI's services include providing a world-class Internet server farm for hosting offshore e-commerce business applications.
GlobeNet is expanding its BUS-1 network by laying a 22,500-kilometer fiber optic ring, Atlantica-1, to connect North and South America. The first leg of the 1.28 Terabit path is scheduled to be operational in September 2000. With headquarters in St. David's Bermuda, GlobeNet (GLOCOM on the Bermuda Stock Exchange) has offices in New York, Toronto and Montreal.