Middle East states express interest in signing up for the FALCON project - a major new broadband cable system for Middle East region

Developed by FLAG Telecom, the leading provider of international wholesale network transport and communications services, the system is call FALCON and will support the burgeoning broadband demand from the fast growing Gulf and wider Middle East region and enable countries participating in the project to deliver advanced new communication services to customers. Countries that have the potential to directly access this resilient connectivity include Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait, Iran, Qatar Egypt and Iraq. All of these countries are in advanced discussions with FLAG Telecom regarding their participation.

FALCON is the Gulf region's first self-healing submarine network ring providing all countries connected to the high capacity cable with extremely reliable, high quality connectivity. Branching units can be added along the entire FALCON cable route to allow more countries in the region to connect to the system as their communications needs continue to expand.

Commenting on today's announcement, Walid Irshaid, President Middle East and Africa, FLAG Telecom, said: "FALCON will dramatically change the global communications infrastructure balance. We have recognised for some time that the exploding market demand from major growth economies could not be served by the global bandwidth connectivity serving the Middle East and Asia today. Across India, FALCON will also provide access to all major cities, offering customers direct connectivity across one of the world's largest growth economies from any metropolitan centre connected to the FLAG global network, and all at the level of quality and reliability for which FLAG is renowned.

"Our announcement today follows months of project development work and we are now in final negotiations with a shortlist of suppliers. All early engineering work has been completed and preparations for the marine survey are well under way. With a forecast initial service date of within 12 months, this is an extremely challenging project, but we believe it is essential to support the growth economies of the Middle East, India and China."

FALCON will interconnect seamlessly with Reliance's 80,000km high speed domestic infrastructure, allowing customers to access major cities connected along the network.

Commenting on their role, Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director of Reliance Industries Ltd., said: "Since our foundation 40 years ago, we have always sought to harness the latest technology to provide world-beating services for our customers. FLAG's FALCON project is such an initiative, and underlines the growing optimism in today's telecommunications marketplace. Today's announcement provides the backbone to deliver advanced broadband services to the Middle East, India and China, which have been traditionally underserved with high-capacity broadband connectivity. FALCON is the culmination of long discussions with valued customers and leading global operators and is designed to unlock the broadband opportunity."

Spokespersons from the region's major operators have also commented on the launch of the FALCON project and have been quick to endorse the new system.

OmanTel: "Oman is geographically ideally located at the heart of the FALCON route, providing important communication links from the world's business centres to India and Asia to the east and to Egypt in the west. We believe in the FALCON project and that it will meet the burgeoning broadband demand from the fast growing Gulf and wider Middle East region."

Batelco: "FALCON will be the first cable system to bring fully protected connectivity to the Gulf and will allow Bahrain to diversify its current capacity arrangements. FALCON will also have many times more capacity than the existing regional links and will enable Batelco to confidently provide new services to customers, at faster speeds and more cost-effectively than before."

Telecom Egypt: "As a key regional provider of advanced services, Telecom Egypt has committed to participate in the FALCON project. Telecom Egypt has been a natural hub for many international cable crossings. FALCON allows us to both consolidate our strategic position and provides a catalyst for supporting the introduction of broadband, ADSL and other such initiatives throughout Egypt."

Ministry of Communications, Kuwait: "With the geographic position of Kuwait at the head of the Gulf, FALCON will enable us to address several strategic development opportunities and offer resilient connectivity to support advanced broadband applications throughout the area."

The western link of the FALCON system will land at Telecom Egypt's Landing Station at Suez, where the cable will integrate with FLAG's global network. FALCON will then follow a route through the Red Sea along the East African coast and across the top of the Arabian Sea before landing in Oman.

Travelling from Oman along the easterly link, FALCON will cross the Arabian Sea to a new Reliance-owned landing station at Mumbai, India. At this point FALCON will interconnect seamlessly to Reliance's pan-India 80,000 km high-speed backbone network linking approx 700 cities and towns across the length and breadth of the country. At Chennai, on the East coast of India where a second Reliance landing station is being built, FALCON will again become a submarine system, linking India to Hong Kong, where the cable once again integrates with FLAG's global network.

FALCON will be funded by FLAG, Reliance and commitments from participating operators.

FLAG's cable network already spans the globe and the company has an acknowledged reputation for a central end to end network management underpinned by exceptional quality and service support. FLAG offers customers east and west routing, meaning traffic can be switched at any time to avoid a cable cut or natural disaster. FALCON will also provide additional resilience across the major route from Egypt to Hong Kong and particularly around the Middle East.