print

ALCATEL TO SUPPLY MAJOR PART OF MORE THAN US$ 150 MILLION UNDERSEA NETWORK IN CARIBBEAN

Paris, 22 September 1998 -- Alcatel and Tyco Submarine Systems Ltd. (TSSL), have been awarded a US$ 150 million contract to supply 'MAYA 1', a new high-capacity undersea network in the Caribbean.
Alcatel will be responsible for approximately 75% of the total contract value including all the undersea electronics, land cable, and all terminal equipment in the landing stations, including the SDH and network management equipment, for the 4500 km project.

The contract, signed in the Cayman Islands, was awarded by a number of operators including AT&T, C&W, Hondutel, ICE, MCI, Sprint and Telmex.

The network is scheduled for completion in the spring of the year 2000 and will connect the USA, Mexico, the Cayman Islands, Honduras, Costa Rica, Colombia and Panama. In addition to the main system is a provision within the contract for one additional landing in Venezuela.

The two fibre pair cable system will use wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) and will give an initial capacity of 15 Gbit/s to the region, upgradeable to 40 Gbit/s , for transmitting voice, data and video traffic.

As Christian Reinaudo, President of Alcatel's submarine networks business explained, "MAYA 1 will be the first optical network on the western seaboard on the Caribbean and will give Costa Rica and Honduras their first direct access to the regions undersea network infrastructure. We are delighted to have been chosen to play a part in this important development".

A world leader in telecommunications systems and equipment, as well as related cables and components activities, Alcatel operates in over 130 countries. Alcatel provides complete solutions and services to operators, service providers, enterprises and consumers, ranging from backbone networks to user terminals. For more information, visit Alcatel on Internet .