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Global Crossing to sell wavelength in connection effort

Asia Global Crossing, owner of one of the world's biggest fiber-optic communication networks, is selling additional wavelength to China Netcom Corp to help the country's No. 3 phone company bolster its overseas calls.

Bermuda-based Asia Global Crossing will sell Netcom four 2.5 gigabit per second wavelengths to Netcom for an undisclosed price, according to a Netcom statement. With its purchase, Netcom will be able to let its customers make international calls on its network from Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

"China Netcom was founded to deploy a fiber optic, next-generation infrastructure throughout China, and, as a broadband data services provider, it will benefit from the international connectivity Asia Global Crossing will provide," said John Legere, Asia Global Crossing's president.

Netcom's purchase marks the company's push to expand its lucrative international calls business, to compete with the country's dominant phone company, China Telecom.

Netcom's international call rate to North America is already 50 percent less than the 4.8 yuan per minute rate that China Telecom charges. Netcom is less competitive when it comes to calls to Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau, which cost 20 percent more than China Telecom's rate.

For Asia Global Crossing, selling Netcom the wavelengths creates a foothold in the Middle Kingdom. China already had 125.7 million cellular phone users at the end of August, more than any other country. The cellular and fixed-line phone market is expected to grow with China hosting the 2008 Olympic Games.

Asia Global Crossing is a joint venture between Global Crossing Ltd, Microsoft Corp and Softbank Corp.
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