Alcatel Takes Majority Interest in CTC

PARIS, July 21 -- Alcatel, which holds a 21 percent share of the world's submarine and terrestrial transmission systems, has taken a 74 percent majority share position in CTC marine, a British contractor in submarine cable installation.
CTC and Alcatel have successfully worked together on submarine cable projects in the past, including the Southern Cross system, which connected the US west coast with Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Hawaii.
Alcatel should deploy more than 100,000 cable-kilometers per year in oceans around the globe for the next several years to keep up with customer demand for transmission capacity for Internet-based services, Alcatel said. Alcatel's affiliation with CTC, combined with its acquisition of ships and cable installation management from its joint venture in May with French shipping firm Louis Dreyfus Armateurs, will provide Alcatel with the means to meet the rising demand for transmission capacity, the company said.