Global Crossing, Microsoft, and Softbank said Wednesday they are teaming up to build a US$1.28 billion land and undersea telecommunications network in Asia, hoping to take advantage of an anticipated explosion in Internet use across the continent.
The companies said the 11,000-mile network, dubbed the East Asia Crossing, will tie together Japan, China, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, Malaysia, and the Philippines, and connect them to the Global Crossing fiber optic network serving North America, Europe, and South America.
Also:
Concentric buys British ISP
Lycos acquiring Quote.com
UN anti-poverty site launches
Sandler short a Web hit- - - - - -
Global Crossing (GBLX) will run the network and be the majority owner of the company formed by the new venture, called Asia Global Crossing. Softbank and Microsoft (MSFT) will each contribute $175 million in cash to Asia Global Crossing, and buy $200 million worth of Global Crossing's network capacity apiece over three years.
- Back to topBritish ISP sold: Concentric Network has agreed to buy Internet Technology Group for $235 million in cash and stock, the most expensive acquisition of a British Internet service provider ever.
The companies both run high-speed networks linking major European and US cities, and together plan to provide Internet access to residential and business customers across Europe and the United States.
In June, Microsoft said it would invest $50 million in Concentric, which agreed to carry traffic for the software giant's Web TV domestic Internet service. If Microsoft were to launch Web TV in Europe, Concentric could provide access there, a company executive said.
4. Back to topInvestor appeal: Lycos has agreed to buy Quote.com, an online source for financial information, for $78.3 million in stock, the company said Wednesday.
Lycos ([LCOS](https://www.wired.com/stocks_quotes.asp?symbol=lcos)), aiming to boost its appeal to investors, said that financial and investment information is the "top reason" consumers use the Internet. The Internet portal said it will maintain Quote.com "as a site that is tightly integrated" into its larger network.
Quote.com offers both free and subscription-based information services.
Wired News is part of the Lycos Network.
5\. [Back to top](#top)__Netaid.org goes live:__ Web users scrambled to find the Starr report online, and to get a gander at the [girls of Victoria's Secret](https://www.wired.com/news/news/business/story/17725.html). But will they show up for world leaders talking about poverty?
If they do, Cisco Systems promises to be ready. The networking equipment maker says it's set up to service some 60 million visitors an hour for Wednesday's live Internet broadcast, which kicks off Netaid.org, the United Nations-backed effort to help people living in extreme poverty.
President Clinton, Prime Minister Tony Blair, and former President Nelson Mandela will join David Bowie, U2's Bono, and Fugees rapper Wyclef Jean to unveil Netaid.org. A month from now, the performers – and others – will put on three stadium concerts to be broadcast live on the site, as well as over radio and television.
The international events will raise money to fight hunger, but are also meant to draw attention to the Web site, which act as a clearinghouse to foster closer links between computer "haves" and "have nots," organizers said.
5\. [Back to top](#top)__Peeping at Sandler:__ More than 1 million Internet users reportedly checked out Adam Sandler's six-minute animated short *The Peeper,* which began showing on several Warner Bros. Web sites over the Labor Day weekend.
[The short](https://www.wired.com/news/news/culture/story/21368.html) "could serve as a model for the future of mainstream programming in the online world," said Jim Moloshok, president of Warner Bros. Online. "These numbers prove that there is an eager audience hungry for entertainment on the Web."
*Reuters contributed to this report.*
