July 29, 2005 Morristown, NJ -- Tyco Telecommunications , a supplier of undersea fiber-optic networks and marine services, today announced the beginning of construction for the TWA-1 undersea fiber optic cable network, as part of a multi-million dollar turnkey contract with Transworld Associates (TWA), a joint venture between Orascom Telecom of Egypt and Saif Group of Pakistan.
With direct cable landings in Karachi, Pakistan and Fujairah, in the United Arab Emirates (under a landing party agreement with the Emirates Telecommunication Corporation, known as Etisalat), the undersea network is being developed by TWA under license from the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority.
Under the terms of the contract, Tyco will provide network design, manufacturing, installation, commissioning, and testing services. The DWDM undersea fiber-optic cable system is projected to extend more than 1,200 km in length, and to be capable of carrying up to 1.28 Tbit/sec of transmission capacity when fully upgraded. With planned initial service in the second half of 2005, the network is designed to satisfy increasing demand for voice, data, and Internet bandwidth and the accelerating use of broadband services in Pakistan and the Gulf region.
"TWA embarked on this project with a vision of bringing high-speed communications technology to Pakistan," comments Kamran Malik, COO of Transworld Associates. "By leveraging the experience, expertise, and leading-edge technology of Tyco Telecommunications, we have obtained a turnkey undersea system solution that enables us to achieve our project objectives.."
"Our ability to rapidly deliver a turnkey solution enables TWA to provide their customers with the benefits of a high capacity network infrastructure, and directly facilitates international connectivity," concludes Michael Rieger, vice president of sales and marketing at Tyco Telecommunications. "The Gulf region presents significant opportunities for the development of critical network infrastructure, and Tyco Telecommunications is committed to developing innovative solutions to support the unique needs of regional project developers like TWA."