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Tricom
Asia has quit its long-stalled Vietnam-Hong Kong submarine cable
network with VNPT Group due to the world financial crisis and the local
partner dragging the chain.
Tricom
Asia is closing its office three years after signing a memorandum of
understanding to form a business cooperation contract with VNPT Group
in the United Kingdom. A former Tricom Asia official told Vietnam
Investment Review that the office would be closed in a few weeks.
“Amid
the world financial crisis, UK financiers may not have the required
budget for such a project\ and the silent attitude of VNPT Group to
push forward the project made Tricom Asia decide to give up,” she said.
However, VNPT Group claimed the project had not come to an end and the
two sides had not reached an agreement on the project’s economic terms.
“We have not announced anything to give up the project,” said a VNPT Group official.
Tricom Asia completed
its external fixed telecommunications network services licence to
enable it to provide and operate international facilities-based
telecommunication services with no limitations to an undersea
fibre-optic cable linking Hong Kong and Vietnam in 2006.
Previously,
VNPT group planned to submit a project pre-feasibility study to the
government in September and expected to get the nod to sign agreement
with Tricom in October, 2007. The cable was planned to become
operational by the end of 2007, with initial capacity of 20 Gbps.
The
budget for the segment linking Vietnam to Hong Kong was estimated at
$60 million, based on a contribution ratio of 51 per cent from VNPT
Group and the remainder from Tricom Asia. “Tricom Asia may come back to
Vietnam once the conditions are better to invest in other telecom
projects,” said the Tricom Asia official.
There are two international submarine cables with Vietnam carriers’ participation to be put into operation early next year.
VNPT Group is involved
in the country’s first direct international submarine cable linking it
to the US via the Asia America Gateway along with carriers Viettel and
SPT.
The cable is set to be in use by mid next year. The $560
million cable has designed capacity of 1.9 terabits per second and to
provide around 40-50 Gbps to Vietnam through a landing point built by
VNPT Group. EVN Telecom is also spending around $50 million to build a
$200 million intra-Asia submarine cable linking Singapore, Hong Kong,
Japan and the Philippines. The cable will provide 50 Gbps to EVN
Telecom once it is ready in next year’s first quarter.
From:VIR/ Vietnamnet
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