collaborating with Microsoft Corp. and Japanese Internet firm Softbank Corp.

to build a $1.28 billion land and undersea telecommunications network in Asia, the companies said yesterday.

The joint venture seeks to take advantage of an anticipated explosion in Internet use across Asia, the companies said in a joint statement.

The 11,000-mile network, to be named East Asia Crossing, will link Japan, China, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, Malaysia and the Philippines and connect them to Global Crossing's fibre optic network serving North America, Europe and South America.

Global Crossing will operate the network, which will give Asia access to high-tech telecommunications services such as electronic commerce.

The deal marks the latest expansion move by two-year-old Global Crossing. The Bermuda-based company recently agreed to buy No. 5 US long-distance telephone company Frontier Corp. for about $9 billion in stock to move beyond its core fibre optic network building business to become a provider of a broad range of telecommunications services.

Softbank has branched out from its original business of computer software publishing and taken stakes in more than 100 Internet-related firms across the globe, including US Internet media company Yahoo! Inc..

For Microsoft, the world's No. 1 software company, the venture marks another step in its plan to develop relationships with companies that can provide high-speed telecommunications services and software.

"The future of our business and telecommunications is increasingly linked, and our interest in the telecom field is broad,'' Microsoft President Steve Ballmer said.

The venture calls for the three companies to form a new entity called Asia Global Crossing, which will eventually be taken public, they said. Additional local partners may be brought into the venture.

Global Crossing initially will own 93 percent of the new company, with Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft and Softbank each owning 3.5 percent, the companies said.

Microsoft's and Softbank's stakes will increase for to a maximum 19 percent each if the market value of the new venture reaches $7.5 billion, the companies said.

As part of the deal, Softbank and Microsoft will each contribute $175 million in cash to Asia Global Crossing, the companies said. They also have agreed to buy at least $200 million worth of Global Crossing's network capacity over three years, primarily on its US-Japan system.