ISPs Band to Expand German Network

Telecommunications firms Viatel Inc., Metromedia Fiber Network and Carrier 1 Holdings Ltd. jointly announced today an agreement to build a national fiber optic network in Germany.


Under terms of the agreement, Viatel, Carrier 1 and Metromedia Fiber Network will jointly develop the German telecommunications network, with Viatel initially owning just over half of the development entity. Upon completion of construction, Viatel, Carrier 1 and Metromedia Fiber Network will own its own separate German broadband network.


Financial details were not disclosed.


The infrastructure expansion would extend the German portion of Viatel’s
Circe Pan-European Network ring approximately 1,800 kilometers, covering
Dortmund, Bremen, Hamburg, Berlin, Leipzig, Nuremberg, and Munich in
addition to Essen, Dusseldorf, Cologne, Frankfurt and Stuttgart, as
previously announced. This will bring the total Circe route kilometers to
approximately 5,500, the companies said.


Viatel said the Circe Pan-European Network will link Belgium, France,
Germany, The Netherlands, and the U.K.


The German portion of the network, consistent with the overall Circe Network,
will be a high-capacity broadband network capable of supporting
high-quality voice, video, Internet Protocol and data services.
Incorporated in the network will be features including Lucent’s TruWave RS
glass and dense-wave division multiplexing.


The companies said that construction will be completed in stages, with the
first segment expected to be available by the second or third quarter of
1999.


“This agreement creates a platform for our U.S. customers to expand their high-bandwidth communications capabilities into the heart of the growing European market,” said Howard Finkelstein, president of Metromedia Fiber Network. “We view this as an outstanding opportunity to capitalize on the rapidly expanding demand for bandwidth-intensive applications by high-capacity users on both sides of the Atlantic.”


Headquartered in New York, Viatel offers high-quality,
competitively-priced, national and international long-distance
services–primarily to small and medium-sized businesses, carriers and
resellers–in over 230 countries and territories worldwide.


Carrier 1 is a Swiss facilities-based
telecommunications carrier serving the wholesale market for long-distance
voice, Internet Protocol, and data services to, from and within Europe.
Metromedia Fiber Network provides high-bandwidth, private fiber optic
communications infrastructure within major U.S. markets.

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