At a ceremony in Calais, GlobeNet, 360networks and Alcatel today joined in festivities marking the loading of the cable aboard the ship that will ultimately lay it on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. The 1.28 Terabits per second submarine cable will span from North America to South America, with the first leg of the network on schedule to be activated in September at a landing point in Brazil.
Executives of GlobeNet, 360networks (which is acquiring GlobeNet) and Alcatel, the turnkey contractor for the submarine cable system network, celebrated with government officials and other guests. The dignitaries, executives and guests toured the C/S Heimdal, the 6,500-ton, cable-laying vessel, making its first voyage under Alcatel's name. The dignitaries also viewed the manufacturing of the cable on a visit to the Alcatel submarine cable factory.
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GlobeNet's Atlantica-1 Cable Sets Sail Page 2
"Alcatel has been building the state-of-the-art network, surveying the ocean floor and supervising construction of the landing stations for more than a year in preparation for making Atlantica-1 a reality," said Jorge Escalona, GlobeNet CEO. "Today marks the beginning of the race to the finish line to make GlobeNet the first independent provider to bring high quality, competitively priced broadband connectivity to South Americans."
Alcatel will spend about 30 days loading the 5,300-kilometer long cable to be laid between Bermuda and Brazil into the ship's two main cable tanks. The cable will be loaded directly from the Alcatel cable factory in Calais.
The ship will then set sail with a crew of 72 on a 14-day voyage across the Atlantic Ocean to Bermuda. The laying of the undersea portion will begin next month by connecting the recently installed shore-end portion off the Bermuda coast to the deep-sea cable. The cable will be laid at a maximum depth of about 6,350 meters.
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 by the end of June.
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GlobeNet's Atlantica-1 Cable Sets Sail Page 3
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. TBI has captured more than 35 per cent of the market as the 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/second 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 Washington, Toronto and Montreal.