increase undersea cable capacity in the region.

Asia Global Crossing plans to upgrade its Pacific Crossing Cable system (PC-1), a 21,000-kilometre rink network that was developed and installed by TyCom, the telecommunications subsidiary of Tyco International Ltd.

The first segment was of the cable network was brought into service last year and connects Washington state and Japan. Plans call for the upgrade to occur in three phases, with the first to be completed by year end.

President and CEO of TyCom Neil Garvey said the order underscored the significant revenue opportunity in the bandwidth capacity upgrade market.

TyCom also recently signed a contract to install the a $1-billion system and the $170 million Australia-Japan cable system, according to Mr. Garvey.