global IP-based fibre optic network, announced yesterday that it had obtained all necessary licenses and authorisations for the completion of its Pan European Crossing (PEC). Construction of the network is underway and on schedule for a December 31, 1999 initial service date for Phase I, which will connect 13 European cities.

The PEC system, an 11,000 kilometre (6,900 mile) terrestrial system, plus Global Crossing's newly-announced subsea Irish Ring, will ultimately provide fibre optic connectivity to 25 European metropolitan centres, connecting the cities to each other and to the rest of Global Crossing's global fibre optic network through the Atlantic Crossing-1 (AC-1) subsea cable. Global Crossing's AC-1 connects Continental Europe and the United Kingdom to the United States.

"Pan European Crossing is designed and constructed to provide the most capable and reliable connectivity in Europe,'' said Global Crossing's Chief Executive Officer, Bob Annunziata, "As a fully integrated part of our global owned-operated network, we're offering truly seamless service to customers with traffic to, from, or within Europe.'' When first announced in October 1998, the European network included 7,200 kilometres of fibre route. Subsequent expansion added six additional cities in Germany including Berlin, Munich, and Stuttgart, plus a subsea connection to Ireland, announced earlier this month. Further expansions are under active consideration, Mr. Annunziata noted.

The PEC system includes five self-healing ring structures, which are being deployed in two phases.

Phase I consists of three rings connecting 13 cities, which are Amsterdam, Antwerp, Brussels, Cologne, Copenhagen, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hannover, London, Paris, Rotterdam and Strasbourg.

Phase II consists of two rings adding 11 new cities, which are Berlin, Dresden, Leipzig, Lyon, Marseille, Milan, Munich, Nuremberg, Stuttgart, Turin, and Zurich.

On July 5, Global Crossing announced an Irish Ring that expands the PEC system to Dublin, Ireland in connection with an $80 million capacity purchase agreement with the Irish government. Undersea segments of the Irish Ring will run from Land's End in the UK to a landing near Kilmore Key, then backhaul on land to Dublin.

Construction is scheduled to begin this fall for local city rings in the major cities on the PEC system, including London, Paris, Amsterdam, Hamburg and Copenhagen. These city ring systems will provide connectivity between the PEC system, its customers and other major systems operating in these cities, thereby providing seamless end-to-end connectivity for the customers.

Phase I: Global Crossing's duct and cable deployment programme for Phase I is proceeding on schedule as trenching and cable laying operations continue in all relevant countries. Phase I is expected to be fully operational by the end of this year.

Phase II: Global Crossing has reached agreements in principle for the provisioning of the majority of the routes on Phase II of the PEC system (including critical segments of the southern Ring), and expects construction along Phase II routes to begin shortly.

An Eastern Ring in Germany is expected to be operational by the end of the first quarter of 2000, and a Southern Ring in Switzerland, France and Italy is expected to be operational by the end of 2000.

Depending on the segment, the PEC system will deploy optical cabling that features from a minimum of 24 fiber-pair to a maximum of 72 fiber-pair.

Utilizing DWDM technology, each fibre pair can carry up to 10 gigabits on each of 40 wavelengths. This allows for total transport capacity, under current design, of up to 9,600 gigabits per optical cable, although newer optical technologies now in the planning stages may increase that capacity significantly.

Under a contract awarded in January, Lucent is supplying Global Crossing with industry-leading fiber and optical network systems, such as Lucent's 80-channel WaveStar(TM) OLS 400G dense wave division multiplexing (DWDM) systems and the WaveStar(TM) BandWidth Manager.