attached through an optical coupler. The majority of the repeater components are passive. These include EDF, fused-fibre optical couplers and optical isolators. Active components include laser pump assemblies, and associated controls. The total number of components within the repeater is lesser than that of regenerative systems. The FLAG terrestrial crossings do not contain repeaters for reliability reasons. The terminal stations in land crossings use optical amplifiers, high performance transmitter / receivers, and forward error correction to cross the large distances without repeaters. Amplification at the terminal output provides output signal power as high as +17 dBm, and optical amplification at the receiver improves the receiver sensitivity as much as 8 dB. The route between Alexandria and Cairo is long, and hence requires remote pumping in order to meet performance requirements. Remotely pumped amplifiers can be regarded as repeaters without active modules. This technology comprises short lengths of EDF spliced into the land cable. The erbium-doped sections are situated within the cable span, and are pumped by 1,480 nm pump lasers which are based at the station. An upgrade to the network was announced in 2006, when the acronym was expanded to "Fibre Loop Across Globe" (FLAG). Segments and landing points Cable landing points are: Europe Asia FLAG Europe Asia (FEA) was the first segment opened for commercial use on 22 November 1997. Porthcurno / Skewjack, Cornwall, England, United Kingdom Estepona, Málaga, Andalusia, Spain Palermo, Province of Palermo, Sicily, Italy Alexandria, Al Iskandariyah Governorate, Egypt Cairo, Egypt Suez, As Suways Governorate, Egypt Aqaba, Aqaba Governorate, Jordan Jeddah, Makkah Province, Saudi Arabia Fujairah, United Arab Emirates Mumbai, Maharashtra, India Penang, Malaysia, meeting SAFE and SEA-ME-WE 3 Satun, Satun Province, Thailand Songkhla, Songkhla province, Thailand Silvermine Bay, Lantau Island, Hong Kong Nanhui, Shanghai, China Keoje, South Gyeongsang Province, South Korea Ninomiya, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan Miura, Kanagawa, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan Atlantic The FLAG Atlantic 1 (FA-1) segment became operational in June 2001. It was constructed as a joint venture between a FLAG Atlantic subsidiary of the parent company FLAG Telecom Holdings, and GTS Transatlantic. Alcatel Submarine Networks laid the undersea portion, and the entire cost was estimated at $1.1 billion. New York City, New York, United States Northport, Suffolk County, New York, United States Island Park, Nassau County, New York, United States Porthcurno / Skewjack, Cornwall, England, UK London, England, UK Plérin, Côtes-d'Armor, Brittany, France Paris, France In March 2013, an upgrade for the