Announcement of IFC and U.S. Agencies to help Finance Philippine Transpacific Fiber Optic Cable January 22, 1987

International Finance Corporation 0433 U SA FOR RELEASE: Thursday, January 22, 1987 CONTACT: Monique Amaudry Press Release 87/36 (202) 676-9331 IFC, U.S. AGENCIES TO HELP FINANCE PHILIPPINE TRANSPACIFIC FIBER OPTIC CABLE A state-of-the-art transpacific fiber optic cable telecommuni- cations system will be installed with financial assistance from The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the Export-Import Bank of the United States (U.S. Eximbank) and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC). The three institutions are joining to help the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT) finance its $120 million investment in connection with the $709 million North America- Hawaii-Japan-Guam-Philippines submarine cable system. IFC, the leading multilateral institution that assists the economic growth of developing countries by investing in their private enterprise sectors, is lending $30.0 million for the project; U.S. Eximbank is guaranteeing approximately $41.0 million in loans; and OPIC is guaranteeing $32.6 million in notes. Internal cash generation of $16.4 million by PLDT, the largest Philippine telephone company, completes the financial plan. Twenty-two international telecommunications companies will jointly install and operate the cable, which will provide voice, facsimile, video and data transmission. The new cable will help meet rapidly expanding telecommunications needs across the Pacific and replace the existing analogue submarine copper cable whose design and service life ends in 1989. American Telephone and Telegraph Company of the U.S. will supply and lay about three-quarters of the system and Kokusai Denshin Denwa Co., Ltd., of Japan will supply and lay the balance. MORE - 2 - The international transmission of information by fiber optic cable is the most advanced and cost efficient method for long-distance communications. The fiber optic cable system will improve the efficiency and reliability of PLDT's overseas telephone service and provide the country with better access to the world's major telecommunications centers. PLDT was established in 1928 and accounts for approximately 95 percent of all telephone services in the Philippines. The company has about 12,000 common shareholders and its stock is traded on stock exchanges in the Philippines and the U.S. The transpacific cable is the second PLDT project which IFC has helped to finance. It previously made a loan for the company's 1969-71 expansion program. -0-