US telecoms firm Global Crossing emerged from bankruptcy protection yesterday and filed accounts that show its Irish-based networks operation lost $662.7 million (€542.6 million) in 2001

The firm, which supplies almost a quarter of the Republic's international telecoms connectivity, said it had finally concluded an investment deal with Singapore-based ST Telemedia. This deal gives ST Telemedia a 61.5 per cent equity stake in the firm in return for $250 million in cash.

Global Crossing has undertaken a complex debt restructuring with its creditors through which it has been able to trim its $11 billion debt to just $200 million. It has also cut its operating costs dramatically since 2001 by shedding thousands of jobs worldwide and cutting capital expenditure.

Global Crossing manages some global operations from a Dublin base and employs about 70 staff. In 1999 it signed an €80 million deal with the Government. Under this deal the firm connected Dublin to its network, which connects more than 200 cities in 27 countries worldwide. The slump in the value of telecoms networks in 2000 forced the Government to write down the value of this contract and it is still pursuing firms for cash it is owed in the courts.

But the deal has cut the price of international connectivity from Ireland and has helped attract internet firms to Dublin such as eBay, Overture and Google.

Global Crossing's networks operation based in Dublin - Global Crossing Ireland - lost €662.7 million in 2001, according to recent accounts filed with the Company's Registration Office.

This loss was significantly greater than a loss of €57 million recorded for a 13-month period ended December 2000.

Turnover in 2001 was €267 million, up from €57 million in 2000.

The Irish subsidiary, which acquires and leases telecoms capacity to firms, took exceptional charges worth almost €460 million as it wrote down the value of its network and prepaid capacity that it had acquired.

Accounts for 2002 have not yet been filed by Global Crossing, which has had to restate some of its financial accounts because of the way it recognised revenues.

For example a second Irish-based subsidiary, Global Crossing Services Europe, was forced to restate $37 million of revenue in 2000. The firm's accounts show it made a pre-tax loss of $170.9 million in the year to end December 2001, an increase on the loss of $19.9 million reported in the previous 12 months.

An exceptional charge worth $173.5 million, related to the writedown of the value of Global Crossing's network, accounted for much of this loss. Other cost of sales at the Irish subsidiary amounted to some $223.6 million.

Turnover in the Irish operations in 2001 amounted to $223.2 million, a dramatic fall from the $561.7 million reported in the previous 12-month period.

Poor financial results reported by Global Crossing's Irish subsidiaries - which both supply services to firms around the world - reflect the huge costs incurred while it was building out its global network. The debts accumulated by the firm eventually forced it into bankruptcy protection almost two years ago.

Global Crossing's debt restructuring and emergence from bankruptcy protection took almost two years due to political concerns in the US about allowing a foreign company to gain control of strategic US telecoms assets.