December 14, 2005 Ashburn, VA -- MCI announced a global IP network expansion to deliver bandwidth to southeast Asia, the Middle East, and western Europe via the recently completed SEA- ME-WE4 submarine network cable system. The next undersea fiber-optic cabling system spans 20,000-km and links France to Singapore while crossing the Middle East and Indian sub-continent.
According to a press release, MCI is the only U.S.-based service provider participating as an initial member in the SEA-ME-WE4 cable system. The company recently joined 15 other SEA-ME-WE4 Consortium members during a ceremony in Dubai, UAE to celebrate the launch of the cable system. The undersea cable system has landings in countries including Algeria, Bangladesh, Egypt, France, India, Italy, Malaysia, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Tunisia, and UAE.
"We know how important it is to deliver critical IP, data, and voice communications services to all regions of the world for our customers," remarks Fred Briggs, president of MCI's Operations & Technology unit. "This new cable system will give our customers the bandwidth, flexibility, route diversity, and fast service activation needed to compete in today's environment. This becomes even more important in the developing countries that now will be serviced by MCI and this cable system."
According to the release, in addition to being a consortium member, MCI was also a landing/terminal party for the submarine cable system in France. The team landed the cable in Marseilles in July, where MCI connected the cable directly to its European IP backbone infrastructure. MCI also has connected the submarine cable system directly to its network in Singapore.
"MCI customers now have the opportunity to enjoy a single end-to-end global seamless network connection," comments Ihab Tarazi, vice president of MCI's International Network Engineering operation. "This cable system greatly enhances the capacity available in an important region of the world that is showing impressive growth and demand for communications services."