Fujitsu Completes Construction of SEA-ME-WE 4 Submarine Cable Network

Tokyo, December 13, 2005

Fujitsu Limited today announced that the construction of the optical submarine cable network for the SEA-ME-WE 4 consortium⁽¹⁾ has been completed within 18 months. Fujitsu was awarded the contract with co-contractor Alcatel Submarine Networks of France in March 2004. The optical submarine cable network, which links the 14 countries of Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, Italy, and France, spans 20,000 kilometers, creating an optical telecommunications network of grand proportions.

With a transmission capacity of 1.28 Terabits⁽²⁾, this optical submarine cable network extending from Singapore to France will provide a catalyst to the development of IT industries in the neighboring countries and amply accommodate the rapidly growing demand for Internet and broadband services.

An inauguration ceremony marking the launch of telecommunications services using the optical submarine cable is being held today in Dubai, UAE, attended by the representatives from 16 international telecommunications carriers⁽³⁾ and other participants.

Fujitsu's Role

Under the SEA-ME-WE 4 contract, Fujitsu was responsible for constructing approximately 8,000 kilometers of the optical submarine cable network from Singapore to Mumbai, India (Segment 1), and supplying the entire system for this segment. Fujitsu also supplied submarine repeaters for the entire Mediterranean Sea segment (Segment 4).

Track Record of Reliability

Fujitsu has a solid track record in optical submarine telecommunications projects, including large-scale, transoceanic projects, and has always completed these projects on schedule. To date the company has executed projects involving nearly 90,000 kilometers of optical submarine cable, equivalent to over twice the earth's circumference. The company has also installed submarine repeaters at ocean depths of 8,000 meters without experiencing one instance of equipment failure to date. Reliability has been the hallmark of Fujitsu's network infrastructure contributions in this era of high-capacity optical transmission systems.

Incident during Construction

An earthquake off the coast of Sumatra and the devastating tsunami that followed occurred in December 2004, just prior to the scheduled start of the cable laying operation in the Bay of Bengal. Fujitsu immediately resurveyed the condition of the seabed along the route and confirmed the integrity of the route, enabling the completion of the cable system without significant delay.