September 5, 2002	Thursday	Jamadi-us-Saani26,1423

MUMBAI, Sept 4: India’s largest international telephone service provider Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL) and 12 foreign telecom companies on Wednesday signed a pact to build a new submarine cable linking Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Western Europe.

VSNL said the agreement was signed in Bali, Indonesia, to build a submarine cable connecting Bangladesh, Egypt, France, India, Indonesia, Italy, Malaysia, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Sri Lanka and the United Arab Emirates.

VSNL said the partners in the project include the PT Indonesian Satellite Corp. (Indosat), Singapore Telcoms Ltd, Telekon Malaysia Berhad, Emirates Telecoms, France Telecom and India’s Bharati Enterprise.—AFP