Telecommunications Network (Hansard, 31 March 2003)

§ Matthew Taylor
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the risk of short term disruption to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Telecommunications Network in the event of the failure of the providing company; and if he will make a statement. [105186]

§ Mr. Rammell
Since the FCO's private sector supplier, Global Crossing, went into Chapter 11 proceedings in the US, the FCO has taken steps to ensure continuity of the FTN service. Contingency arrangements are in place to allow the FCO's essential services to continue to operate should Global Crossing, for any reason, withdraw their service. We are closely monitoring the company's progress towards exit from Chapter 11.

§ Matthew Taylor
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when the(a) telephone system and (b) network connections were provided as part of the Foreign and Commonwealth 524W Office Telecommunications Network to the British Embassies in (i) Egypt, (ii) Syria, (iii) Jordan and (iv) Turkey; and if he will make a statement. [105185]

§ Mr. Rammell
The installations of the telephone systems and network connections at the embassies in Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Turkey were completed, under the FTN contract, by Global Crossing as follows:

Embassy FTN Network Connection Telephone Systems Installed under FTN

Amman 21 December 2000 11 March 1999¹

Ankara 26 March 2002 None²

Cairo 12 March 2002 None²

Damascus 24 May 2002 21 October 2001

¹ The telephone installation at Amman was completed prior to signing the FTN contract with Global Crossing. The installation was completed under the 'Instruction to proceed' process to ensure Year 2000 software compliance.

² Legacy telephone systems are in service at the Embassies in Ankara and Cairo. These telephone systems were installed prior to the FTN contract being signed and are still operating within their expected design life. Both systems are connected to the new network allowing embassy staff to benefit from the full range of FTN services and facilities.

Embassy	FTN Network Connection	Telephone Systems Installed under FTN
Amman	21 December 2000	11 March 1999¹
Ankara	26 March 2002	None²
Cairo	12 March 2002	None²
Damascus	24 May 2002	21 October 2001
¹ The telephone installation at Amman was completed prior to signing the FTN contract with Global Crossing. The installation was completed under the 'Instruction to proceed' process to ensure Year 2000 software compliance.
² Legacy telephone systems are in service at the Embassies in Ankara and Cairo. These telephone systems were installed prior to the FTN contract being signed and are still operating within their expected design life. Both systems are connected to the new network allowing embassy staff to benefit from the full range of FTN services and facilities.