Singapore Telecommunications Ltd, teamed with 18 others, has called for tenders for the construction of a submarine fiber-optic cable system. The 11,800 mile SEA-ME-WE 3, South East Asia-Middle East Western Europe 3 cable will connect the UK, France, Portugal, Italy, Egypt, Djibouti United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, with possible landings in Morocco, Greece, Cyprus, Turkey and Oman too. Singapore Telecom said tenders will close on August 1 and the award is expected to be made in December with the system expected to begin carrying commercial traffic at the end of 1998. The 18 other groups participating in the project are British Telecommunications Plc, France Telecom, Marconi of Portugal, Telecom Italia SpA, Egypt’s ARENTO, OPT of Djibouti, the United Arab Emirates’ ETISALAT, PTC of Pakistan,VSNL of India, Sri Lanka Telecom, Thailand’s CAT Indosat Plc, Telekom Malaysia Bhd, AT&T Corp, Kokusai Denshin Denwa Co of Japan, Deutsche Telecom AG, Turk PTT, and OTE.
