Reach Global Services

Reach Global Services Ltd. is a subsidiary of Telstra International. Reach, headquartered in Hong Kong, has interests in more than 40 submarine cables (including AJC, APCN2, CUCN, Japan–US, RNAL, SEA-ME-WE 3) and international satellite systems, mainly servicing the Asia Pacific area. Reach has operating licences and landing rights in most major markets including Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Australia, North America and Europe.

Reach was established as a joint venture between Telstra and Pacific Century Cyberworks (PCCW) in 2001. Telstra and PCCW injected their international assets, including subsea cables, gateways and satellite capacity into Reach. These assets were supplemented later the same year by the acquisition of Level 3 Communications' Asian assets. After financial difficulties, its shareholders negotiated a debt settlement in June 2004, and it is now financially stable. Reach was restructured, and in 2005 announced that nearly all future expansion would be used for Telstra and PCCW requirements, though it would continue to service its other customers. Reach's website advertises their wholesale voice & data services.

The company operates 364,000 km (226,000 mi) of network cables connecting 240 countries and territories.

Telstra was compelled to strike a 2001 deal with the FBI and the US Department of Justice to give them surveillance access to the undersea cables owned by its subsidiary Reach, a new document released online and provided to Crikey reveals.