Mercury Communications Ltd has won a significant victory, getting a 25% stake alongside British Telecommunications Plc, also 25%, in the first fibre optic cable to be laid between the UK and France: France Telecom will have the ofther 50% of the $10m cable, which is to be laid by Alcatel NV’s Submarcom SA subsidiary – and the 94-mile Brighton-to-Dieppe cable, due to come into service early next year, will be the world’s longest fibre link without repeaters ironically, France Telecom has still not agreed to direct landing of Mercury calls to France, which still have to be routed through British Telecom.
