Pirelli to Supply Cable for Kuwait-Iran Link

MILAN, Sept. 26 -- Emirates Telecommunications & Marine Services FZE in the United Arab Emirates has awarded Pirelli a contract to supply submarine and land fiber optic cables, terminal transmission equipment and accessories for a project that will link Kuwait City with Ganeveh in Iran. The new cable system will enable the transmission of voice, data and multimedia broadband services.

The project is Pirelli's the first fiber optic link in the region and is expected to strongly support economic development. The contract will involve manufacturing and laying a 350-kilometer fiber optic submarine system and a 50-kilometer terrestrial system capable of an ultimate transmission capacity of 10 Gb/s on four channels, the equivalent of more than 160,000 simultaneous phone calls.

Pirelli said the work owners are the Ministry of Communications of Kuwait and Telecommunication Company of Iran, and that the link will be completed in the second quarter of 2004. The network will include three branches to Failakah ( Kuwait ) and Kharg ( Iran ) islands and to an Iranian offshore oil platform for which Pirelli will supply optical equipment that enables data transmission.

Optical cable will be manufactured by Pirelli at its Italian facility in Arco Felice (Naples), and equipment will be manufactured in Paderno Dugnano (Milan).

For more information, visit: www.pirelli.com