Formus Broadband Communications has signed an alliance agreement with Global Crossing, brokered by the Government, that will provide it with access to 12 fibre-based communication links.

The agreement with Global Crossing Network Center and Global Crossing Ireland will provide eight links from Ireland to Europe as well as four from Ireland to the US, with a total capacity of 1,800 megabits per second.

The links will form the basis of Formus's pan-European backbone network by connecting the company's local networks throughout Europe with the Internet.