France Telecom Announces Commercial Service Launch of Sea-Me-We 3, the World's Longest Submarine Cable Network.

PARIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--August 27, 1999--

France Telecom (NYSE: FTE) today announced that Sea-Me-We 3, the world's longest submarine cable network, is commercially available. France Telecom was the initiator and one of the principal sponsors of the project, which was launched in 1997 by a consortium of 92 international telecommunications operators.

The service launch covers segments linking Singapore to southern China, Australia and Europe, transiting via India and the Middle East. Spurs extending to Japan and Shanghai will enter service in September and November 1999, respectively.

The Sea-Me-We 3 system stretches nearly 40,000 km to link 33 countries on four continents: Europe (Norden, Germany), Africa, Asia and Australia. The 39 landing points provide unprecedented connectivity, making a new communications resource available to about three-quarters of the world's population--approximately 4 billion people.

The system provides a high-capacity link between Northern Atlantic regions and the North Pacific via the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean. Its coverage is larger than that of the Sea-Me-We 2 system, which entered service in 1994 between Marseille and Singapore.

Built in just two and a half years, Sea-Me-We 3 uses ultra-sophisticated technologies. Each of the two fiber pairs uses wave division multiplexing (WDM) to send eight wavelengths at 2.5 Gbps. This gives the system a maximum capacity of 40 Gbps for superior quality transmission of voice, data and video traffic.

The Sea-Me-We 3 network gives France Telecom direct access to most countries between Europe and the Far East, along with competitively priced transmission capacities. Sea-Me-We 3 constitutes an excellent platform to support the rollout of innovative broadband services between Europe, the Middle East, Southeast Asia and the Asia-Pacific region.

France Telecom is co-chair of the Managing Committee with China Telecom who together are responsible for project policy and strategic decisions. As head of the Procurement Group, France Telecom is also coordinating engineering and commercial relations with suppliers.

The fleet of twelve cableships involved in laying the system includes four France Telecom vessels, the Fresnel, Vercors, Raymond Croze and Leon Thevenin. These ships laid nearly 25,000 km of cable, representing over 60 percent of the Sea-Me-We 3 system.

France Telecom continues to make significant investments in global submarine systems to accommodate surging demand from customers for voice, video and Internet services. France Telecom contributed $60 million (about 57 million euros) to Sea-Me-We 3, making it one of the largest investors in the project.

Sea-Me-We 3 is part of France Telecom's strategic objective of developing a high-quality global infrastructure comprising submarine cable systems for high-speed links. The company is also a leading participant in the TAT-14 transatlantic cable and the Safe/Sat 3-WASC system that will link Europe and Asia to the African continent. These systems will make information superhighways that span the globe a reality.

France Telecom is one of the world's leading telecommunication carriers, with 1998 consolidated operating revenues of 24.6 billion euros and operations in more than 50 countries. France Telecom provides businesses, consumers and other carriers with a complete portfolio of solutions that spans local, long-distance and international telephony, data, wireless, multimedia, Internet, cable TV, broadcast and value-added services. France Telecom held an initial public offering in October 1997 and is listed on the Paris and New York stock exchanges.