FLAG Telecom, a Reliance Infocomm arm, said Wednesday orders for wavelength capacity on its trans-Atlantic optical fibre submarine cable have jumped over 500 percent quarter-on-quarter in the first half of 2005.

FLAG has signed this year major contracts for additional capacity with six international carriers and one global Internet content provider, said a company statement issued here.

"Volume growth has been driven by the increased use of broadband services by businesses," said Chris Wood, vice president (marketing) of FLAG Telecom.

"Our success in the marketplace stems from the design and deployment of a world-class optical fibre network that has demonstrated service quality and performance benefits over other competitive systems," he added.

"This, coupled with close control of costs and pricing, has enabled us to offer highly cost-effective solutions to our customers and to cement long-term mutually-beneficial relationships with them."

The company said over the past seven years capacity demand had increased more than 60-fold as services had moved from voice and low-speed data to high-speed broadband.

FLAG Telecom owns and manages an extensive optical fibre network spanning four continents and connecting key business markets in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the US.

The company's customer base of more than 180 leading operators includes all of the top ten international carriers.
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