Sudan Invests in Falcon

KHARTOUM, Sudan and LONDON -- Canar Telecommunication Co. (Canar), Sudan's new nationwide fixed line operator, today confirmed a strategic multi-million dollar investment in FLAG Telecom's FALCON terabit/s cable system. Following an official signing ceremony during the ITU World Summit on the Information Society in Tunis, Canar will now provide East Africa's first landing station for FALCON at Port Sudan. Canar has also purchased capacity on the high-quality fibre optic cable. Today's signing follows similar agreements with leading telecommunications operators in Bahrain, Egypt, India, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Qatar.

FALCON will be the first terabit/s cable system to land in Sudan. It is expected to quickly become a strategic asset of the country, enabling Canar to enhance the level and quality of services they are able to offer their customers and to provide the infrastructure to meet the increasing demand for roll-out of broadband services and E-commerce applications.

Mr. Saood Al Juneibi, Managing Director of Canar, commenting at today's official singing ceremony, said: "Today's signing demonstrates Canar's on-going commitment to delivering high quality, advanced communication services to Sudan. FALCON will provide the international infrastructure needed for Sudan to leap several generations of technology and deliver a true 21st century network for our country and our customers. Port Sudan will be the first East Africa landing for this key regional asset, which will provide high-availability connectivity between Sudan and the key business centres and Internet Exchanges around the world."

FALCON, a new high-capacity resilient loop cable system is being installed to provide multiple landings throughout the Gulf region, with submarine links stretching from the Middle East to Egypt in the west and, initially, to India in the east. Across India the FALCON system can interconnect seamlessly with India's domestic networks, including Reliance's 80,000 km high-speed domestic infrastructure, allowing customers to access major cities and towns. The FALCON system will also interconnect seamlessly with the existing FLAG Global Network allowing customers to access key business centres around the globe.

Walid Irshaid, President, Middle East and Africa, FLAG Telecom, said: "We are delighted to welcome Canar as a landing partner and for the FALCON cable and key customer on the system. FLAG is committed to meeting the global communications needs of its partners in the region and the formal signing of these agreements marks a milestone in our relationship with Canar. FALCON is designed to unlock the broadband opportunity in a region previously underserved by international connectivity, bringing a many-fold increase in capacity over existing regional links. It will enable Canar to roll out advanced communication services and with very high levels of network reliability."

FLAG Telecom Group Ltd.