TECHNOLOGY : Microsoft Joins in Asia Fiber-Optic Venture : Deals: Software giant and Softbank invest in Global Crossing’s effort to build a worldwide high-speed network.

Microsoft Corp. and Japan’s Softbank Corp. are investing in a venture with Global Crossing Ltd. to build a fiber-optic network in Asia for high-speed Internet, voice and video communications.

The 11,000-mile web of land and undersea cables will connect Japan to Global Crossing’s transpacific links with the United States and its fiber networks in the Americas and Europe.

Microsoft and Softbank, an early investor in Yahoo and other hugely successful Internet ventures, will each contribute $175 million to the $1.28-billion project. The companies also committed to buy a combined $200 million worth of network capacity from Global Crossing over three years.

For Global Crossing, the investments by such shrewd technology players give a much-needed vote of confidence to its plan to build a worldwide fiber-optic network.

After the venture was announced, Global Crossing’s stock jumped 25%, rising $5.25 to close at $25.56 on Nasdaq.

The investment by Microsoft is the latest bid by the software giant to ensure its place as the Internet becomes a venue for telephone calls and television in addition to data traffic, e-mail and Web surfing.

Bermuda-based Global Crossing will initially hold a 93% stake in the venture. Microsoft and Softbank will each own an initial stake of 3.5%, but those stakes will expand if the market value of Asia Global Crossing exceeds $5 billion, reaching as much as 19% if the venture’s worth tops $7.5 billion.

Global Crossing will give the new venture its development rights in the Asia-Pacific region and its 57.75% share of Pacific Crossing 1, a separate partnership that is building a 13,000-mile network under the Pacific Ocean.

Jack Scanlon, vice chairman of Global Crossing, will be chief executive of Asia Global Crossing.

The new Asian network, which will be built in two phases, will connect Japan, China, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, Malaysia and the Philippines. The first 6,300 miles of cable is expected to be ready by December 2000, and the remainder about six months later.

The partners hope to eventually expand the network to Thailand and Indonesia.

Before the announcement, Global Crossing’s stock had lost two-thirds of its value since May, a victim of the blowout in Wall Street’s Internet rally and concerns over how much a price war in long-distance rates will hurt merger partner Frontier Corp. Global Crossing was forced to renegotiate that merger last week, increasing the amount of stock it will pay for Frontier, which also owns a fiber-optic network in the United States.