The Type 1 license will allow C2C to provide city-to-city connectivity in Japan using bandwidth from its cable network (C2Ccn). This will be done via carrier hotels set up in Tokyo and Osaka. C2C s new Japan office (C2C Japan KK) will manage the operations of these carrier hotels and provide marketing and sales support.

We are positioning C2C as the carrier s carrier as we focused on providing bandwidth to our customers at the wholesale level, without running the risk of eroding their customer base, said Mr Lim Shyong, CEO and board director of C2C. With this strategy, we are creating a win-win situation with our customers as they can concentrate on servicing their corporate and consumer customers, while C2C continues to provide them with the necessary bandwidth.

Mr Lim added: We are also in progress to realize C2C s objective of providing city-to-city connectivity as we continue to move towards the completion of the cable network by year-end. With the Type 1 license, we are able to operate our own network in Japan and procure better rates for our customers, therefore giving them the flexibility to direct their traffic from any of the seven Asian countries that C2C operates in, all the way into the heartland of Japan.

C2C will be partnering KDDI and TTNet for the backhaul arrangements in Japan. The two partners will work in agreement with C2C to install the equipment necessary to link the cable network from the Shima and Chikura cable stations to the Tokyo and Osaka carrier hotels. Mr Lim said: Customers in the region can expect more flexibility as we are able to provide one-stop-shop solutions with Point Of Presence (POP) in key cities such as Tokyo and Osaka, without having them to further negotiate separately for their own backhaul arrangements. Co-locations services and other value-added facilities will be provided in the carrier hotels, and customers are able to choose from various backhaul service providers located there.

We are also opening new window of opportunities for our customers looking to expand their businesses in the China and India markets as we have managed to land our cable networks in the two most populated countries in the world. i2i cable network, the first private cable network linking Singapore to India will also be interconnected to C2C cable network to further extend its footprint in the region. We foresee that in the near future, these two markets have exponential growth potential, thus providing the impetus for increasing bandwidth demands.

C2C so far has completed all its nine shore-end cable landings and is progressing steadily towards the phase one completion of the northern loop that will link China, Hong Kong, Korea, Japan, Taiwan and the Philippines. It is expected that the northern loop will start carrying commercial traffic by end October 2001, while the southern loop linking Singapore, will be Ready For Service (RFS) by end December 2001.

SOURCE: COMPANY PRESS RELEASE