By Submarine Cable NewsFeed

The Trans-Pacific Express (TPE) consortium has filed with the FCC to modify its cable-landing license to add AT&T Corp. (ATTC) as a licensee.

The TPE Network will directly link Mainland China, South Korea, Taiwan and the United States.  ATTC will acquire a 9.43% interest in the international waters segments of the TPE cable, and become a member of the TPE Consortium along with MCI International, Inc., China Network Communications Group Corporation, China Telecommunications Corporation, China United Telecommunications Corporation, Chunghwa Telecom Co. Ltd., and KT Corporation.

The ownership in the international waters segments of the other TPE consortium members will be reduced from 16.66% to 15.09%. The addition of ATTC as a licensee/owner will not affect ownership in any of the landing stations or portions of the cable that connect the landing stations to international waters.

AT&T Corp. is a direct, wholly-owned subsidiary of AT&T Inc., a publicly traded corporation in which no person or entity holds a ten percent or greater interest. ATTC is affiliated with carriers in two of the TPE destination markets – South Korea and Taiwan — but it states that neither affiliate has market power in the destination market.

In March, AT&T announced that it would join the TPE consortium along with Japan's NTT.

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