AT&TLatinAmerica (ATTL)

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More coverage:Thursday August 31 12:07 PM ET
AT&T LatAm to Buy Global Crossing Network Capacity

NEW YORK (Reuters) - AT&T Latin America Corp. (Nasdaq:ATTL - news), a subsidiary of long-distance telephone company AT&T Corp. (NYSE:T - news), said on Thursday it agreed to buy $46.5 million of high-speed international network capacity from Global Crossing Ltd. (NasdaqNM:GBLX - news) in a move to cut the cost of transmitting voice and data services.

AT&T Latin America, which provides communications services in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Peru, said the new network capacity will carry primarily data and Internet-related traffic. Over time, customers will use it to send voice and video traffic.

Under this agreement, Global Crossing will provide AT&T Latin America with rights of use for high-speed lines linking Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires, Santiago, Bogota and Lima to the United States. As a result, AT&T Latin America will be able to offer complete, high-speed connections domestically, regionally and internationally.

AT&T Latin America, which began trading on Nasdaq on Wednesday, currently provides international connections through various facilities leased from third parties. By acquiring the facilities from Global Crossing, the company said it now will be able to transmit greater volume of traffic at higher speeds and at lower costs.