October 27, 2000

Japan Telecom Co., Ltd.
NTT Communications Corporation

 

 

Japan Telecom Co., Ltd. (Japan Telecom) and NTT Communications Corporation (NTT Com) today announced that, together with China Telecom (China), Chunghwa Telecom (Taiwan), Korea Telecom (Korea) and two major U.S.-based carriers, concluded a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the construction of the Asia-America Network (AAN) in Beijing on October 27. The AAN is expected to start operations by the end of 2002.

The AAN will be a fiber-optic submarine cable network using the latest technology to connect Japan, China, Korea, Taiwan and the United States (including Hawaii and Guam) measuring more than 30,000 km. The cable network will feature high reliability and will have self-healing ring configuration. Network capacity will be more than 640 Gbps per each of eight fiber pairs, providing a total capacity of 5.12 Tbps, or approximately 62 million telephone networks.

Once completed, the AAN will meet the increasing demand for telecommunications among Asia, Oceania and the United States, in combination with the Asia Pacific Cable Network 2 (APCN2) and Australia-Japan Cable Network (AJC), both of which are currently under construction.


AAN’s Significance to Japan Telecom

The MOU signatories chose the Maruyama Cable Landing Station (Maruyama LS) as one of the landing points for the AAN, because it already provides collocation space to the Japan-U.S. and AJC cable owners, and allows access to any backhaul providers on fair terms and conditions. Moreover, Maruyama LS is approximately 100 km to Tokyo, closer than any other possible cable landing site in Japan. It will facilitate highly reliable multiplexed transmissions and the provision of reliable, low-cost telecom services.

Japan Telecom has actively participated in global telecom infrastructure construction, including the China-U.S., Japan-U.S., AJC, and APCN2 cable network projects. Japan Telecom has already reserved cable capacities for the United States with the TPC-5, China-U.S., and Japan-U.S. networks, as well as for Asia with the APCN and APCN2 networks. Today’s decision, however, reflects Japan Telecom’s judgment that a new Trans-Pacific cable will be necessary by early 2003 to deal with dramatic increase of traffic volume to be brought from customers’ increasing direct access via ADSL, FWA and FTTH (Fiber To The Homes), through which heavy contents such as video data via the Internet will be transported. Japan Telecom will continue to provide reliable and convenient telecom services to its customers.


AAN’s Significance to NTT Com

NTT Com, in response to the continuing explosion of Internet and other traffic between Asia, Oceania and North America, is actively participating in the construction of global telecom infrastructure, including the China-U.S., Japan-U.S., AJC, APCN2, and TAT-14 cable networks.

NTT Com is participating in the AAN’s construction to rapidly develop IP business in North America, Japan, and Oceania, following its acquisition of U.S.-based Internet solution provider Verio, Inc. in September. At the same time, acquisition of AAN traffic volume will enable NTT Com to meet the increasing demand for Internet traffic among its customers.

With the start of the AAN, NTT Com looks forward to providing reliable, user-friendly, competitively priced telecom services, as well as seamless network service, connecting Asia, Oceania, the United States and Europe.


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