October 16th, 2007 - Issue #4

A Note from our C.O.O.

Welcome to the fourth edition of “The GlobeNet Insider,” our internal newsletter. Enclosed you'll find a series of updates and information regarding the latest information from across the organization including company and industry news, human resource updates, birthdays and upcoming holidays as well as the reoccurring special feature section.  This edition's special features are on our São Paulo office and the Rio cable landing station.  On that note, let's jump right in with this edition's major news.

I'm delighted to report that we had a great quarter and exceeded our forecast and revenue projections!  Thank you to everyone who worked so hard over the previous quarter to make this happen.  I am confident that we are on our way to reach our annual goals, but, as we begin the fourth and final quarter of the year, it's important to stay focused and continue to work diligently to make '07 a great year.   

Work has also begun to define and improve organizational processes and procedures to make our business more efficient and leverage industry best practices.  Focus is being given to defining processes for procurement, finance, sales, marketing, human resources and operations.  We're confident that when the processes are complete we all will be pleased with the efficiency and ease it will produce across the staff functions.

In addition, we have prepared the 2008 budget. As you know, all departments at GlobeNet were involved in this process, and the leadership team has been spending days/weeks/weekends pulling and evaluating data to prepare a comprehensive budget which rolls up into a master budget for GlobeNet.  The next step of this budget process is to present it to the executive board at BrT to secure funding and budget approval for FY2008.  We'll keep you posted in future editions as to the budget process and approvals received.

As we continue to exceed our revenue projections and grow the business, we've required additional resources to provide operational support, focus on new market opportunities and help us position our brand and portfolio.  So, I'm delighted to share that we have four new hires this quarter.  Please join me in welcoming Beatriz, Carina, Mariana and Sandy to the GlobeNet team.  You can read a brief bio on each in the Human Resource Update - New Hires section of this newsletter.  

As always, feel free to send me any ideas or suggestions for the next edition.  Forward your comments to emagnor@globenetbrt.net. Happy holidays and I look forward to reporting a successful year-end and sharing updates on our project in the next edition.

Warm regards,

Emagnor Tessinari

Company News

Company News @ a Glance -  3rd Quarter Update

• We turned up our very first circuit serving Fortaleza. Our first circuit was activated – it is a large SDH Capacity sold to Oi (Telemar) connecting their PoP in downtown Fortaleza to New York. Prior to this activation, Fortaleza was only a regeneration station.  The success of this project was possible due to the installation in record time for a new SDH node at our Fortaleza cable landing station by our engineering team.

• Luis Alonso and Marc Fortin visited Alcatel in July ’07 to inspect the DWDM network equipment components being acquired to upgrade our submarine network. All of the equipment was compliant with our business and network requirements and is currently in transit to the landing stations.

• GlobeNet Brasil, also known as, Brasil Telecom Cabos Submarinos, is now SOx certified!
  

   

  • Last year, we started our participation in the SOx certification process as a subsidiary of the BrT companies. The SOx (Sarbanes-Oxley) Act defines financial controls that a company must have in order to ensure transparency and accountability of its processes regarding its operating rules and corporate guidelines. In other words, the SOx Act ensures that the company’s financial statements are reliable. It involves ways of identifying and mitigating risks which gives us a transparent relationship with the market.

   

  • The project was developed over a year and the entire BrT organization was involved. Priscila Fonseca represented Brasil Telecom Cabos Submarinos - GlobeNet and lead the project for us. As part of the project, controls were identified and created after which, we were audited by KPMG and Deloitte to ensure that these controls were being executed correctly and that all processes were documented.

   

  • Also this year, BrT created an area of responsibility specifically dedicated to risk management. Risk management is one of the compliance requirements mandated by SOx certification. Currently, this area and its team are defining areas of risks (for both processes and the business) for all BrT and its subsidiaries. Risk agents were named across the entire organization and Priscila Fonseca is representing GlobeNet as part of that committee. Final certification is scheduled for January '08.    

   

  • A special thanks to everyone that was involved in this lengthy project.

 

• A new SDH node was installed in Maiquetía, Venezuela. This new infrastructure enhancement will enable us to support the Venezuelan market's strong growth.

• Brasil Telecom GlobeNet’s Senior Network Engineer, Patrick Blesso, spoke to the Insider regarding GlobeNet’s exciting new network upgrades in Venezuela. “We recently installed and put in service a new node in our CLS in Maiquetía,” says Mr. Blesso. “In essence, this upgrade immediately doubles the usable capacity out of Venezuela, and represents a milestone development in GlobeNet’s service to this country.”
  
  
• The international capacity upgrade is in response to the increasing demands of Venezuelan customers. Mr. Blesso, who was team leader from project conception through installation and commissioning, noted the key contributions of GlobeNet Net network engineers Carlos Cardenas, and Jesus Arellano.

Brasil Telecom 2nd Quarter Net Profits are Up 39%

Brazilian telco Brasil Telecom Participacoes just posted a second quarter net profit of BRL 145.5 million (USD 77 million) for the three months to end June, a near 39% rise on the corresponding period a year ago. EBITDA climbed from BRL 813.6 million to BRL 972.7 million, while net revenue climbed 12% year-on-year to BRL 2.74 billion. Contributions from fixed line operations was down from the previous year, although the losses were offset by mobile and broadband internet contributions, despite the mobile arm posting a loss of BRL 47.9 million. At the end of June 2007, Brasil Telecom had 3.77 million mobile subscribers, up 36% year-on-year and the number of broadband customers was up 26% to 1.45 million. The number of fixed lines in service slipped from 9.4 million to 8.1 million.  For the complete article, click here.

Human Resources Update - New Hires

We’d like to welcome Beatriz Pedrosa, Carina Reis, Mariana Schusterman and Sandy Tejera to the GlobeNet Team.

Beatriz is our new Marketing Director. Prior to joining GlobeNet, Beatriz lead the division responsible for global marketing and public relations at Verso, a global provider of VoIP solutions.  Beatriz was also previously employed by Nortel Networks and FPL FiberNet.  She holds a Master of International Business Administration (M.I.B.A.) and is fluent in English and Spanish.

Carina Reis joins our São Paulo team as a finance intern.  She's studying Business Administration at Centro Universitário da FEI - Fundação Educacional Inaciana and is expected to graduate in December 2008. She is currently helping the office staff with finance-related projects. Before joining GlobeNet, she worked at Ministério da Agricultura of São Paulo State and at São Francisco University, also as an intern. She is currently learning both English and Spanish. Her internship's objectives are to gain business experience and become part of our team in the future!

Mariana Schusterman joins GlobeNet as a Financial Analyst. Mariana was previously employed as an auditor with PriceWaterhouseCoopers - Argentina, and subsequently moved to the United States.  She has also held positions as both auditor and controller for various companies in the U.S.  Mariana speaks Spanish, Portuguese, English and some Italian.  She holds a degree from the University of Belgrano, Buenos Aires, Argentina. She's currently pursuing her Masters in Accounting.

Sandy Tejera joins us as our Regional Sales Director for the U.S.A.  Sandy comes to GlobeNet from Comsat Int'l,  where he lead the U.S. sales team; he also worked for Comsat in Brazil and Colombia.  He is fluent in English, Spanish and Portuguese.  Sandy began his telecom career at AT&T.

Welcome to all and we look forward to your impact and contributions!

Office Spotlight

São Paulo is one of the world’s largest cities.

In this issue of the Insider, we turn our spotlight on our office located in São Paulo, Brazil.

For those of you who not visited São Paulo, it is one of the world’s largest cities. It's known for its multitude of skyscrapers, ranking third as the biggest skyline (first and second are Hong Kong and New York respectively.) Also notable is that São Paulo is the second largest Japanese city outside of Japan. São Paulo is also one of the three locations for our GlobeNet offices.

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CLS Spotlight

GlobeNet’s Cable Landing Station in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Our cable landing stations (CLS) are the epicenter of our network and the gateway between terrestrial and submarine cables. As a result, in this issue of the Insider, we're spotlighting the CLS in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Rio de Janeiro was once the capital of Brazil (1763-1960) as well as the capital of the Portuguese Empire (1808-1821). Today it is famous for its spectacular natural setting, Carnival celebrations, samba and hotel lined tourist beaches, such as Copacabana and Ipanema. The city's population is about 6,136,652, occupying an area of 1,182.3 square kilometers (456.5 sq. miles).

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This month we would like to feature our most popular GlobeNet product, the GlobeNet LINE. The GlobeNet LINE offers point-to-point transport and International Private Line (IPL) services to the following locations: New York, City; Tuckerton, NJ; Boca Raton, FL; Miami; St. David’s, Bermuda; Maiquetía, Venezuela; Fortaleza; Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.

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