FALCON cable laying operations begin off the coast of Oman

Sub-sea cable laying operations between the shore end landing site in Al Seeb, Oman and Mumbai will stretch approximately 1,700km where the cable will land at the new Reliance landing station on India's west coast. Depending on weather conditions, Alcatel's cable ship Ile de Batz is scheduled to reach Mumbai in approx five weeks time, where the final splice will take place and full link testing will begin.

The FALCON network is being built and installed in simultaneous sections using multiple submarine cable laying ships and initial service will commence in the fourth quarter of 2005. Muscat and Mumbai will be the locations anticipated to be live by that date, with services to other landing countries following in succession.

"FALCON is on track to become the region's premier cable system," said Walid Irshaid, President Middle East and Africa, FLAG Telecom. "There has been great support for FALCON from leading operators, many of whom will be connected directly to the global information superhighway for the first time. The system is designed to unlock the broadband opportunity throughout a region previously underserved by international connectivity, and will bring a many-fold increase in capacity over existing regional links," he added.

FALCON is being installed by Alcatel Submarine Systems, and consists of a protected Gulf Loop and submarine links to Egypt in the west and, initially, Mumbai in the east. Across India the FALCON system can interconnect seamlessly with India's domestic networks, including Reliance's 80,000 km high-speed pan-India infrastructure, allowing customers to access major cities and towns.

The high-quality FALCON system will have landings in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and India, significantly more than any other current or planned regional cable system. Announcements of additional landings are anticipated shortly.

FLAG's cable network already spans the globe and the company has an acknowledged reputation for a centralised end to end network management underpinned by exceptional quality and service support.