Global Crossing Ltd, yesterday announced that it has awarded the contract for an 11,600 kilometre underwater cable in the region.

KDD Submarine Cable Systems Inc. will construct Phase 1 of East Asia Crossing which will connect Japan, Taiwan, Korea, Hong Kong, and China.

East Asia Crossing will use bi-directional transport capacity shared over four fibre pairs and other state-of-the-art technology.

It will be the highest cable capacity ever introduced into the Asia Pacific area.

The system has the capacity to form a self-healing ring, providing internal restoration capability in the event of a link outage, and will connect with Global Crossing's subsea system Pacific Crossing-1 and its Japanese terrestrial network.

Phase 1 planning and construction has begun and initial service for the link between Japan and Hong Kong is scheduled for year-end 2000.

"Global Crossing, through its subsidiary Asia Global Crossing, is dedicated to providing global connectivity in the Asia Pacific region,'' said Bob Annunziata, CEO of Global Crossing.

"By linking the fast-growing markets of Japan, Taiwan, Korea, Hong Kong, and China, and connecting them to the worldwide fibre-optic Global Crossing Network, the Asia Pacific region will for the first time gain access to a broadband, seamless global network.''