FLAG Telecom is a leading independent global carriers' carrier. The company provides an innovative range of products and services to the international carrier community and Internet Service Providers. FLAG (Fiberoptic Link Around the Globe) Telecom owns and operates the FLAG Europe-Asia cable system, stretching over 28,000 km from the UK to Japan; FLAG Pacific-1, a multi-Terabit (Tbps) submarine cable system, which is designed to connect leading Internet hub cities of Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Tokyo, and is expected to enter service in 2002; and FLAG Atlantic-1, a 2 x 2.4 Tbps cable system that is is operational, and provides fully protected city to city services between London, Paris and New York.

In 1990, the FLAG concept initially emerged with the Fibreoptics Association for International Research (FAIR), a subsidiary of Gulf Associates, proposing a fibreoptic cable system as an alternative transmission system for international traffic to and from the Middle East.

In September 1990 FAIR, in conjunction with FLAG's initial founding members, Gulf Associates, NYNEX and Dallah Albarakha Group, initiated an independent feasibility study to assess market demand in the area. The name 'FLAG' was coined by Gulf Associates and initially stood for Fiber Link Arabian Gulf. More than 300 senior telecommunications executives from 30 international carriers and five regulatory agencies in no fewer than 25 countries were surveyed. The study confirmed a substantial need for a new fibreoptic system, not just around the Gulf, but along the entire underserved UK to Japan route that is now FLAG Europe-Asia.

In early 1992 FAIR transferred all its rights to FLAG Limited, which owned and operated the FLAG Europe-Asia cable system. Verizon (previously Bell Atlantic) assumed the responsibility of Managing Sponsor and principal investor with the Verizon Global Systems acting as project managers. Verizon Network Systems (Bermuda) , by April 1994, were serving as the world-wide sales representatives for the cable system.

The FLAG Europe-Asia cable system went live on 22 November 1997, carrying traffic for over 60 leading international carriers, including AT&T, Cable & Wireless Communications, China Telecom, ETISALAT, Hong Kong Telecom International; KDD; MCI and Sprint. Today, FLAG Telecom has over 90 customers, including 17 of the top 20 international carriers*.

In May 1998, FLAG and Verizon agreed that the best way to serve its customers was for FLAG to be fully integrated with end-to-end responsibility for customer contact, support and service. The company now direct markets its network and serves its customers under one clear identity - FLAG Telecom.

In January 1999, FLAG Telecom announced a 2 x 1.28 Tbps cable system across one of the world's busiest routes, the Atlantic Ocean. FLAG Atlantic-1 was designed from the ground up as a city to city network, and with no single point of failure it quickly became the architecture of choice for major carriers and ISPs. Within 8 months commitments had been received for all of the original design capacity and the cable upgrade was announced in October 1999 during Telecom 99. The system is now operational with a design to support up to 2 x 2.4 Tbps!