LONDON -- FLAG Telecom, a leading provider of international wholesale network transport and communications services, today announced FALCON, a new high-capacity resilient loop cable system providing multiple landings throughout the Gulf region, with submarine links stretching to Egypt in the west and to Hong Kong in the east. Across India the FALCON system will interconnect seamlessly with Reliance’s 80,000 km high-speed domestic infrastructure, allowing customers to access major cities connected along the network.

Commenting at today’s announcement, Patrick Gallagher, CEO, FLAG Telecom, said: “FALCON will dramatically change the global communications infrastructure balance. We have recognised for some time that the exploding market demand from major growth economies could not be served by the bandwidth connectivity serving the Middle East and Asia today. Across India, FALCON will also provide access to all major cities, offering customers direct connectivity into and across one of the world’s largest growth economies from any metropolitan centre connected to the FLAG global network, and all at the level of quality and reliability for which FLAG is renowned.

“Our announcement today follows months of project development work and we are now in final negotiations with a shortlist of suppliers. All initial engineering work has been completed and preparations for the marine survey are well under way. With a forecast initial service date of within 12 months, this is an extremely challenging project, but we believe it is essential to support the growth economies of the Middle East, India and China.”

Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director of Reliance Industries Ltd., said: “Since our foundation 40 years ago, we have always sought to harness the latest technology to provide world-beating services for our customers. FLAG’s FALCON project is such an initiative, and underlines the growing optimism in today’s telecommunications marketplace. Today’s announcement provides the backbone to deliver advanced broadband services to the Middle East, India and China, which have been traditionally underserved with high-capacity broadband connectivity. FALCON is the culmination of discussions with valued customers and leading global operators and is designed to unlock the broadband opportunity.”

FALCON will include the Gulf region’s first self-healing submarine network ring providing all countries connected to the high capacity cable with extremely reliable, high quality connectivity. Countries that have the potential to directly access this resilient connectivity include Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait, Iran, Qatar and Iraq. All of these countries have expressed interest in joining FALCON and most are in advanced discussions with FLAG Telecom regarding their participation. Branching units can be added along the entire FALCON cable route to allow more countries in the region to connect to the system as their communications needs continue to expand.

Spokespersons from major operators commenting on the FALCON project, said:

OmanTel: “Oman is geographically ideally located at the heart of the FALCON route, providing important communication links from the world’s business centres to India and Asia to the east and to Egypt in the west. We believe in the FALCON project and that it will meet the burgeoning broadband demand from the fast growing Gulf and wider Middle East region.”

Batelco: "FALCON will be the first cable system to bring fully protected connectivity to the Gulf and will allow Bahrain to diversify its current capacity arrangements. FALCON will also have many times more capacity than the existing regional links and will enable Batelco to confidently provide new services to customers, at faster speeds and more cost-effectively than before."

Telecom Egypt: “As a key regional provider of advanced services, Telecom Egypt has committed to participate in the FALCON project. Telecom Egypt has been a natural hub for many international cable crossings. FALCON allows us to both consolidate our strategic position and provides a catalyst for supporting the introduction of broadband, ADSL and other such initiatives throughout Egypt.”

Ministry of Communications, Kuwait: “With the geographic position of Kuwait at the head of the Gulf, FALCON will enable us to address several strategic development opportunities and offer resilient connectivity to support advanced broadband applications throughout the area.”

FLAG Telecom Group Ltd.