P.M. BRIEFING : Undersea Optical-Fiber Cable

The government-owned overseas telecommunications carrier, OTC Ltd., signed a construction and maintenance agreement today with 35 other carriers to build the world’s longest undersea optical-fiber cable system.

The $620-million cable network will be built over the next four years and stretch more than 10,000 miles from Sydney to Hawaii through Auckland, New Zealand, and from Sydney to Guam.

The South Pacific network cable will be able to handle more than 30,000 simultaneous telephone conversations, OTC said.

OTC will be the biggest shareholder in the South Pacific network, which will join an optical-fiber network in the North Pacific forming a loop connecting the Pacific rim nations.

Other companies taking part include TNI of New Zealand, KDD of Japan and American Telephone & Telegraph Co.