networks and services and wholly-owned indirect subsidiary of Tyco International Ltd., filed on Friday to raise as much as $1 billion in an initial stock sale.

Bermuda-based TyCom was formed last Wednesday and has designed, engineered, manufactured and installed more than 350,000 kilometres of undersea cable, according to a preliminary prospectus filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

The company did not say how many shares of common stock it plans to sell in the IPO or the planned offering price, although those details are expected in future filings.

The proceeds from the offering will be used to deploy the first phase of its own worldwide undersea telecommunications fibre-optic cable system, named TyCom Global Network, and to pay a dividend to TGN Holdings Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tyco.

TyCom said the network will likely be deployed in stages over the next ten years and expects the network would span 250,000 kilometres and serve six continents.

Among its past customers, who have bought about 192,000 kilometres of undersea fibre-optic cable systems valued at more than $8 billion since 1988, are telecommunications giants spanning the globe, including AT&T Corp., British Telecommunications Plc and Telekom South Africa, among others, within the past four years.

TyCom had $629.2 million in net revenue and $63 million in net income during the quarter ended December 31, and $1.63 billion in revenue and $163 million in net income during the 1999 fiscal year that ended September 30, the filing showed.

The company said it does not plan to pay dividends in the foreseeable future and will use its earnings for operating its business and fund future growth.

As part of the restructuring as TyCom moves partially out, Tyco said it would cause the operating entities of TyCom to declare dividends to Tyco totalling up to $600 million, the prospectus said.

After the offering, Tyco will hold a stake in TyCom although the filing did not reveal how large. Previously, Tyco has said it would sell up to 20 percent of the subsidiary to the public.

It has applied to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "TCM'' once it goes public.

Analyst Phua Young of Merrill Lynch said the offering will help Tyco wring value from the market's thirst for dot.com and technology offerings.

"The undersea business is sexy in that the demand there is being driven by the Internet,'' Young said. "This is a mutli-billion-dollar IPO, with a lot of sizzle.'' Tyco Chief Executive and Chairman Dennis Kozlowski also serves as executive chairman of TyCom. Neil Garvey, 44, serves as the chief executive and president of TyCom.