MALAGA, Spain, Nov. 12 -- Global Fiber Holding Co. has announced plans to construct MedFiber, a 3600-km submarine fiber-optic ring cable network that will link Spain, France and Italy. As planned, the network will have a design capacity of 2.4 Tb/s, with an operational date scheduled for late fourth quarter 2000. GFH is sponsored by a joint venture lead by Global Fiber Group LLC, a new US-based undersea fiber-optic cable development company comprised of former members of AT&T's submarine cable planning and operations group.
MedFiber's northern segment will connect Barcelona, Spain, with Savona, Italy, through five intermediate stops in Ampurias, Spain, and Agde, Marseilles, Le Lavandou, and Nice in France. The non-repeatered system will consist of 24 fiber pairs; six of the 24 pairs will form a self-healing regional ring network that will provide terrestrial connectivity to city centers and other international/transoceanic systems via landing points. The southern segment, which will close the self-healing ring, is to comprise a repeatered system linking Savona with Rome and Mazara in Italy, and with Valencia and Barcelona in Spain. MedFiber will be able to connect to systems reaching the Middle East and Atlantic routes through the landing point in Mazara, Italy.