Level 3 Communications Limited, a subsidiary of Level 3 Communications, Inc. (Nasdaq: LVLT), announced it has activated the first leg of the company's new multi-terabit North Asian undersea cable system connecting Hong Kong and Japan. Earlier this month, France Telecom became the first company to buy capacity on Level 3's new cable by purchasing international private line service.
Level 3's North Asian cable system offers a maximum capacity of 1.3 terabits per second on its Hong Kong to Japan leg, and 1.9 terabits on the second leg linking Japan, Korea and Hong Kong. A terabit -- equivalent to one trillion bits -- represents the amount of information that can be transmitted in one second.
The Hong Kong to Japan segment is part of the North Asian cable system, which is jointly owned by Level 3 and FLAG Telecom. Following the activation of services in Hong Kong and Japan, Level 3 expects to extend service into Taiwan in the first quarter of 2002 and in Korea in the second quarter of 2002. Cable landings in Taiwan at Toucheng and Pusan, Korea, are expected to take place later this year, providing a fully redundant loop system in 2002.
Using the latest Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) technology, Level 3's cable system offers a combination of low unit costs and upgrade capability. The new cable offers customers a range of products, from a DS-3 circuit to 10 Gbps wavelengths, purportedly the largest capacity unit currently available on the market. Level 3 also offers IP services on the cable, including STM-4 circuits -- the first STM-4 international private lines for the Internet in Hong Kong.
Level 3 currently operates an 80,000 square-foot data center in Hong Kong and a 63,000 square-foot data center in Tokyo. A suite of IP-enabled services is also available in these two markets.
About Level 3 Communications:
Level 3 (Nasdaq: LVLT) is a global communications and information services company offering IP services, broadband transport, colocation services and a Softswitch-based services. For more information, visit www.level3.com.