SINGAPORE -- Singapore Telecommunications Limited (SingTel) today announced the launch of a new fiber-optic submarine cable which gives the company additional reliable infrastructure to enhance its services to customers in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the rest of the world.

To serve customers in the Middle East and South Asia even better, SingTel will also be adding two offices to their existing 35 global offices. The new offices in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bangladesh will be ready from January 2006.

SEA-ME-WE 4

Spanning three continents, the high-capacity SEA-ME-WE 4 (South East Asia, Middle East and Western Europe) cable was recently completed by a consortium of 16 leading telco players. It is the fourth in a series of cables connecting Asia, Europe and North Africa.

Mr Wong Soon Nam, SingTel’s Vice President of Corporate Business Marketing, said: “The addition of SEA-ME-WE4 to our existing suite of extensive submarine cables will boost SingTel’s lead in providing telecommunications services to customers in Singapore and around the world.

“This will also strengthen our ability to serve companies which plan to expand their operations into Asia, Europe and the Middle East.”

The new cable covers a distance of 20,000 kilometers, stretching all the way from Singapore to France, with a design capacity of 1.28 terabits per second.

When running at full capacity, this data rate will be equivalent to more than one million Internet users simultaneously having real-time access to a 1 Mb file. This increased bandwidth will benefit customers including Internet Service Providers, carriers and multi-national corporations.

The network lands in 14 countries: Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Italy, Tunisia, Algeria and France.

SingTel has invested US$40 million and owns 8 per cent of this SEA-ME-WE 4 project.

New offices

Following plans to add new offices in the UAE and Bangladesh, Mr Mark Chong, CEO of SingTel Global Offices, said: “These new offices will leverage on the new SMW4 cable to better position SingTel in meeting the strong demand for Internet and data access from markets in Asia and the Middle East.”

Mr Chong said: “The SMW4 will also enable SingTel to beef up connectivities to Europe through its offices in London, Paris and Frankfurt. SingTel will make the most of our offices in Europe to provide a faster, reliable communications network for our customers all over the globe. The demand for high-speed Internet connection is high and reliable delivery is vital for today's data, Internet connectivity, e-commerce and voice communications.”

Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. (SingTel) (OTC: SGTJY)