Viatel Inc. (New York City) has expanded its planned pan-European fiber-optic network connecting

Viatel Inc. (New York City) has expanded its planned pan-European fiber-optic network connecting London; Paris; Brussels; Antwerp, Belgium; Rotterdam, the Netherlands; and Amsterdam to include key business centers in Germany. Current plans call for the network, known as Circe, to be extended to Cologne, Essen, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, and Stuttgart in Germany as well as Nancy and Strasbourg in France. The Circe Network, being built as a self-healing, bidirectional sdh ring, is expected to total 3200 route-km, including 320 route-km of submarine cable. Construction will begin this year, with initial lighting planned for the first quarter of 1999.