AT&T;, 9 Others to Build Transpacific Cable

AT&T; Corp. and nine other telecommunications companies agreed to build a $1.4-billion undersea fiber-optic cable that will be the first to connect China and the U.S. The firms signed a memorandum of understanding in Beijing. Also participating in the venture are Sprint Corp., MCI Communications Corp., SBC Communications Inc., Hong Kong Telecommunications Ltd., Korea Telecom, Singapore Telecommunications Ltd., Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp., Kokusai Denshin Denwa and China Telecom. The network will be completed in December 1999 and will span more than 16,770 miles. It will use technology that can transmit voice, data and images at least eight times faster than it currently can. The cable will be able to to transmit more than 1 million calls simultaneously, more than any undersea cable now operating, New York-based AT&T; said. The cable will allow calls to be placed directly between the U.S. and China.