VSNL settles cable row with Flag Telecom

Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL), a Tata group company, has resolved its differences with Reliance Infocomm's Flag Telecom on the access of the existing capacity of synchronous transfer mode (STM) on the Flag Europe Asia (FEA) cable system.

Following the agreement, an additional bandwidth capacity of around 2.65 Gbits/s will become available for sale to/from India.

Flag Telecom and VSNL announced that the companies "have reached an agreement on May 4, 2004, for the sale of 17 STM-1s of capacity on the Flag Europe Asia (FEA) cable system into/from India".

As per the agreement, six STM-1 westward and 11 STM-1 eastward will become available immediately to the marketplace along with additional capacity that may become available because of grooming and/or changes in existing contracts within the design capacity (10 Gbit/s) of the FEA cable system."

Besides the availability of STM, VSNL has reduced its landing station access charges per STM-1 by 25 per cent and Flag has agreed to the allocation of five STM-1s to VSNL at a non-discriminatory price.

The initial 17 STM-1s are immediately available for activation on the FEA cable system.