VSNL Boosts Trans-Pacific Cable

SINGAPORE -- VSNL Singapore Pte Ltd. ("VSNL International"), the international arm of Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (NYSE:VSL - News) announces today the upgrade of its high capacity Trans-Pacific submarine cable network to a 1 terabit capacity to serve increased customer demand between Asia and the US. The Trans-Pacific Network (TGN-P) connects several key US West Coast Internet and carrier exchanges directly to Japan and onward to other important Asian destinations through multiple regional sub-sea cable interconnections.

Acquired by VSNL in 2005, as part of the Tyco Global Network (TGN), the TGN-P is designed as a ring with two 12,000km submarine cables. Each cable carries eight fiber pairs with each fiber capable of carrying up to ninety-six 10 Gbit wavelengths, delivering a total network capacity of 7+ Tbit/s. Currently, 640Gbit/s of capacity is activated on the TGN-P system and is used by VSNL International customers to carry live voice and data traffic.

Vinod Kumar, President, VSNL International, comments, "In response to significant growth in bandwidth demand over the past 12 months, coupled with strong forecasts from independent analysts, VSNL International has decided to invest in this upgrade to better serve our customers and enable them to choose us as a single source provider for all their bandwidth requirements. Our customers will benefit from easily scalable bandwidth and unparalleled connectivity on the largest Trans-Pacific system available today."

The TGN-P will be upgraded to a lit capacity of almost 1000 GBit/s and VSNL International expects the first phase of this upgrade to be implemented by the end of 2006.

Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (VSNL) (NYSE: VSL)