Cairo, Egypt, September 30, 2007 – It’s been announced today that Tyco Telecommunications (US) Inc. has been awarded a turnkey contract for the construction of the Red Sea segment of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) submarine cable system.

The contract calls for building, installing and commissioning of over 1,250 km of submarine cable. The MENA high-capacity submarine optical system will feature state-of-the-art submarine transmission technology with optically amplified submersible repeaters and leading edge Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) transmission equipment.

Initial service from MENA is expected to commence by first quarter of 2009 and the project will be managed on a turnkey basis. The contract covers all operations from marine survey, system design and manufacturing, through to marine installation, testing, commissioning and training.

Survey work of the entire cable route has been initiated and the necessary permits to land the cable or cross territorial waters and lands are all in process.