PARIS, August 19 -- Alcatel has won a $700 million contract to supply dense wavelength-division multiplexing technology for a new high-capacity undersea network around South America. The contract was awarded by Global Crossing Ltd. The 18,000 km network, to be called South American Crossing, aims to connect Chile, Peru, Colombia, Panama, the US Virgin Islands (St. Croix), Brazil and Argentina by 2001.
Alcatel will also work with other companies to complete the loop by providing a terrestrial link, called the Trans-Andean Crossing, that will connect Las Toninas and Buenos Aires, Argentina, as well as Santiago and Valparaiso in Chile. The network will be finished in phases, with initial service to be provided by the last quarter of 2000 and completion of the entire network scheduled for the end of the first quarter of 2001.