build ten multimillion-dollar data centres in Europe and the United States over the next year.

The Bermuda-based owner and operator of fiber-optic networks said the centers will expand its US-based Web hosting and Internet Protocol applications businesses into new international markets by the middle of 2000.

The company said it will build centers in London, Paris, Amsterdam and Frankfurt by the end of June and expand its existing US data centers.

Additional centres in the Asia/Pacific region and South America will be added as fiber-optic networks in those areas are completed.

Global Crossing said the new facilities will be located within larger complexes that will provide customers with access to the backbone network and highly secure collocation space.

The centres, combined with the company's Internet protocol network, will be the foundation for the introduction of new products beginning with outsourced e-mail and moving to messaging, security and scheduling applications.

Separately, Global Crossing also said it completed its North American Crossing Network, formerly called the Frontier Optronics Network, which is 20,000 miles long and connects more than 120 US markets.

The company said the $1 billion network is fully operational and connected to its Atlantic Crossing network.