Global Crossing (Nearly) Sold To Singapore

sQuEeDeN writes "According to money.cnn.com, the sale of Global Crossing to STT (Singapore Technologies Telemedia) has been permitted by the administration. There originally were concerns about this sale by the DoD/ DOHS but, by what I assume to be much behind-the-scenes negotiating, such concerns have been alleviated. Ultimately this shouldn't [knock] matter much but it's always interesting to see where your bandwidth comes from. We'll see what it means for the U.S. to have it's global bandwidth be owned by, well, someone else."

Comments

This could be a good thing...

[Dimensio]

Global Crossing is a notorious spam-haven. Perhaps, if it goes to Singapore, that will change for the better with spammers being sentenced to canings.

Thinking outside the box (U.S.)

[smack_attack]

I bet carnivore or whatever the hall it's called these days reared it's ugly head somewhere in this deal.

Can't wiretap you country because it's unconstitutional or ISPs won't play? Let an overseas developer buy it in exchange for snooping access.

Just a theory, nothing provable yet, but the deal sounds shady.

What is Global Crossing?

[kevin_conaway]

What is it and why should I care? The article doesnt explain it very well

Re:What is Global Crossing?

[C10H14N2]

Despite the fact that this has been covered in the "major media outlets" ad nauseum for the past five years, did you venture to type this in your browser?

http://www.globalcrossing.com/

Or, maybe:

http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&edition=us&q=glo bal+crossing&btnG=Search+News

For the truly adventurous, there is the text from the house oversight and investigation committee, regarding the effects of the GC bankruptcy:

http://commdocs.house.gov/committees/bank/hba78601 .000/hba78601_0.HTM

Re:What is Global Crossing?

[macwhiz]

Global Crossing's biggest claim to fame is its undersea cables. It was one of a very small number of companies -- two or three -- to own ships capable of laying undersea cable. Global Crossing's original mission was to build a network of modern, high-speed undersea cables linking the major continents. Not only would this be useful as part of their own network, but they could resell capacity to other companies that didn't have a fleet of their own.

The missing part of that plan was a connection across the continental U.S., so they set out to acquire a landline fiber network. They purchased Frontier Corporation for their nationwide fiber. Frontier was formerly Rochester Telephone of Rochester, NY, one of the largest local telephone companies that was never part of the Bell System.

I can remember the days when transferring a file from overseas was done only as a last resort, because the Internet links across the oceans were low-bandwidth copper or satellite links. Global Crossing's undersea fiber, and the competition it spurred, brought that era to an end.

Technically, Global Crossing is a Bermuda corporation; that's a tax dodge used by a number of companies because of Bermuda's very liberal attitude towards incorporation and taxes. (The prerequisite "corporate presence" in the company can consist of a mailbox, for example. It's not a major hardship for a Board of Directors to hold at least one meeting annually in Bermuda, either.)

The reason that Global Crossing's sale to a Singapore concern is of national interest is Global Crossing's contracts with the U.S. Government. Because of its undersea fiber, Global Crossing is one of a few companies that can provide the government with a worldwide communications network that isn't sub-leased. The Department of Defense has several contracts with Global Crossing. They were concerned about their calls and data being sent over a network owned by ST Telemedia, which is itself owned by the Singapore government.

More worrisome was the original plan, in which ST Telemedia would share ownership with Hutchinson Whampoa Ltd., a company controlled by Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing, believed to be closely tied to the Chinese government. ST Telemedia bought out Hutchinson's share in the reorganization plan, probably helping clear the way for the approval. It's hard to imagine the U.S. government permitting Department of Defense communications networks to be partly owned by the Chinese.

This is not a big loss for the US

[Eponymous Cowboy]

You have to remember that even though Global Crossing seems ubiquitous, the company is only four years old (formed in 1999 from a merger between a Bermuda-based fiber-optic company and a local US telecom operator), and really died at the age of two--it was run into the ground by the end of 2001, buried in accounting scandals, and filed for bankruptcy in January of 2002. All it has going for it is a widespread physical infrastructure (most of which it doesn't even own outright, with liabilities in the tens of billions of dollars). I say good riddance; let Singapore have them. The only unfortunate thing is that GC's public shareholders will get nothing--that's a big fat $0--from this deal.

Capitalism and low cost broadband don't mix

[zymano]

Only the future of low cost broadband will be realized through municipal run companies like the electric company. We are lagging behind the rest of the world. Doubters ,ask yourself this, how much would electricity cost if the electric companies were privatized ? The folks California could help you out there. The big businesses who are always one step ahead of regulators were price fixing and gouging. Broadband internet access is too important now to let companies like AT&T and Time Warner to control. If the public and local governments would take control of the cable lines and implement WI - Fi Network over them then we would see some real fireworks. Leasing these lines to big business who put stupid shows and infomercials for the dumbest percentage of the population is not smart.

Re:Can you say 'Read the friggen law'?

[C10H14N2]

Inter alia, note the use of the words "ONLY IF",

" President can exercise this authority under section 721 (also known as the "Exon-Florio provision") to block a foreign acquisition of a U.S. corporation only if he finds:
(1) there is credible evidence that the foreign entity exercising control might take action that threatens national security, and
(2) the provisions of law, other than the International Emergency Economic Powers Act do not provide adequate and appropriate authority to protect the national security. "

http://www.ustreas.gov/offices/international-affai rs/exon-florio/

"TREASON" has a very specific definition in the Constitution:

"Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court."

Clearly, despite all his faults, and they are legion, the glorious leader has done nothing wrong in this case.

Approval terms

[Waffle Iron]

There originally were concerns about this sale by the DoD/ DOHS but, by what I assume to be much behind-the-scenes negotiating, such concerns have been alleviated.

Here are the ammended contract terms finally approved by DoD/DOHS:

Cable Maintenence: Purchaser acknowledges that the communications system comprises many thousands of miles of optical fiber, and that this fiber will require periodic maintenence.

ADDENDUM: Purchaser's employees may from time to time encounter a splice in said optical fiber. These splices may occasionally connect to black boxes and/or satellite dishes, or other equipment or devices. Purchaser acknowledges that such equipment or devices are NOT included in this transaction and are NOT the property of the purchaser. Purchaser agrees that UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES ARE THE PURCHASERS EMPLOYEES TO DISTURB, DISABLE, INTERFERE WITH OR DISCLOSE THESE DEVICES TO ANY PARTY. Purchaser's employees will at all times ignore these devices and deny their existence to any party that may inquire about such devices. If purchaser violates the terms of this clause, purchaser acknowledges that the entire communications network may be vaporized by a controlling third party without notice and without any compensation to the purchaser, and the security deposit will not be refunded.

Re:global crossing spam will probably jump hugely

[LX.onesizebigger]

Oh well, they can join the rest of the asian spammers i've plonked at 202/8, 203/8, 210/7, 218/7, and 220/7. (Yes, i really do despise countries that dont care about their spam problems)

What, like the United States*?

Make sure you've got your own back covered before you start hurling your bigotry around. (Of course, I don't know if you are from the U.S., but if you're going to ignorantly lump all Asian countries into one big stereotype, I'll take my liberties and at least conclude that you are from the so-called western world, and that you are, as such, just as responsible for the U.S. administration as the people of Singapore are for that of China.)

That having been said, I know a lot of UCE originates from China, but with a population that's about one fifth of theirs and a GDP per capita more than eight freaking times of theirs, which country do you think is employing its resources least adequately?

*) Spamcop seems to have made a PC decision to stop compiling statistics by worst offending ISPs, but while they did, the two main culprits (and it doesn't look like that has changed) were consistently two *cough* Sprint large *cough* Bell South networks in the U.S.