Bermuda-registered fibre optic cable company Pangea Ltd. has raised the $450 million it needs to link seven European and Scandinavian countries.

Yesterday the company's president and CEO Lawrence Codacovi announced a banking group headed by Morgan Stanley Dean Witter had filled the kitty needed for the system, with a $310 million financing commitment to Pangea.

He said that was on top of $140 million in venture capital commitments from a group of investors including Dolphin Communications Fund, Columbia Capital, Harbourvest Partners, Madison Dearborn Partners and Norwest Venture Partners.

"With the completion of the financing package, the way is cleared to initiate construction on this project,'' he said.

"We shortly expect to announce the first in a series of contracts aimed at Pangea 1 being ready for service in the fourth quarter of 2000.'' The start-up company only publicly unveiled its ambitious plans for the subsea and terrestrial fibre backbone linking London, Amsterdam, Hamburg, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Oslo and Helsinki in March.

It plans to let carriers and Internet service providers buy complete managed networks rather than buying capacity on individual point-to-point cable systems to allow them more flexibility and lower prices.

Mr. Codacovi said securing the financing from such impressive banking and venture capital firms endorsed the company's plan to "fill a recognised void in voice, broadband and Internet service transmission capacity''.

He said several carriers had already expressed strong interest in the project.

"Pangea 1 will provide a single-source, integrated broadband solution for carriers and Internet service providers wishing to offer superior services into, within and out of our coverage area,'' he said.

"To achieve what Pangea 1 will offer as a one-stop solution, carriers and Internet service providers today must assemble, manage and maintain a patchwork network from multiple service providers.''