Vive le Backbone!

Global communcations firm France
Telecom Tuesday said it plans to build a 15,000-mile backbone to
connect with 28 major cities in North America.

The backbone buildout comes with a $200 million price tag and is
tentatively scheduled for completion by the end of next year. The network
will interconnect directly with France Telecom’s Pan-European backbone,
which was opened this time last year.

France Telecom subsidiary Global One is set to manage the North
American bandwidth venture. Global One holds a facilities-based operator’s
license in the U.S., essential to the French firm’s plans to open a dozen
sales offices in major U.S. markets by the end of this year.

The move into North America consolidates the France Telecom’s position as a
major player in the global carrier market.

Although France Telecom also announced that Level 3 Communications, Inc. would
provide the dark fiber behind the backbone buildout, a spokesperson for it
has not contract with the global carrier at this time.

Level 3’s Paul Lonnegren did confirm that the two companies were in the
process of discussing an agreement that could provide France Telecom with a
variety of Internet solutions.

The backbone architecture will be designed to serve up 1.6 terabits per
second speeds and primarily support Internet bound data. But voice, and
multi-media traffic for France Telecom’s multi-national clients will also
be transported over the OC-192 capable pipe.

France Telecom’s North American backbone will support all the bells and
whistles that current global carriers provide including IP-based Intranet,
Virtual Private Network and global frame relay services, as well as
wholesale transit options.

The North American backbone network is a key element in France Telecom’s
global network buildout. The company participates in many large-scale
international submarine cable ventures, of which a transatlantic TAT-14
connection will provide the route from North America to Europe.

France Telecom is one of the world’s leading telecom currently operating in
more than 75 countries worldwide. With the recent acquisition of the UK
mobile operator Orange,
France Telecom also ranks as the second largest European wireless operator
serving than 21 million subscribers. France Telecom already operates a
European backbone connecting 250 metropolitan cities in 16 European countries.