AzerTelecom

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2024: Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan invest $50 million in a link along the bottom of the Caspian Sea

Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan are investing more than $50 million in the construction of a fiber-optic communication line along the bottom of the Caspian Sea. This became known in mid-June 2024.

The length of the cable will be 370 km, and its throughput will reach 400 terabits/s. According to the Minister of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry of Kazakhstan Zhaslan Madiev, Kazakhtelecom and Azertelecom have created a joint venture to implement the project. In 2024, the tender for the selection of a contractor for the design and laying of an underwater fiber-optic fiber is completed. Investments of telecom operators of Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan will exceed 23 billion tenge ($50.6 million).

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According to Sputnik, the project for laying the Trans-Caspian fiber-optic cable line is part of the Digital Silk Road initiative aimed at ensuring the transmission of large amounts of data between Asia and Europe. The project implementation period is 2025. The communication line will go along the route Aktau - Sumgayyt.

AzerTelecom, a member of the international group of companies NEQSOL Holding, is the leading wholesale telecommunications operator of Azerbaijan. As the chief operating officer of AzerTelecom explains, the implementation of the project will allow the company to enter new markets and expand its transit capabilities.

Kazakhtelecom, Kazakhstan's largest telecommunications company and national telecom operator, is also actively involved in the project. According to the Minister of Digital Development of Kazakhstan Bagdat Mussin, work has already begun on the development of a high-level design, as well as relevant research and design of the underwater line.

According to Sputnik, the route of the underwater communication line will run from Kazakhstan's Aktau to Azerbaijani Sumgayyt. The reserve channel with a length of about 330 km will be laid from the Kazakh port of Kuryk to the Azerbaijani village of Buzovna, which is not far from Baku.^[1]

2023: Creation of a joint company with Kazakhtelecom to lay the Trans-Caspian fiber-optic cable line

Kazakhtelecom and AzerTelecom created a joint company to lay the Trans-Caspian fiber-optic cable line. The largest telecommunications operators of Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan announced this cooperation in August 2023.

The project for the construction of a fiber-optic highway along the bottom of the Caspian Sea between Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan is one of the main components of the transnational Digital Silk Road, the ultimate goal of which is to improve the quality of Internet connection in the countries of Central Asia and the South Caucasus. The length of the cable line along the seabed connecting Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan will be 380 km, and the capacity of the new highway will reach 400 Tbit/s.

Kazakhtelecom and AzerTelecom have created a joint company to lay the Trans-Caspian fiber-optic cable line

The creation of a joint venture is another important step that the parties have taken towards the creation of the Trans-Caspian cable system. This step confirms the parties' commitment to a project of international importance. The joint venture will invest in the creation of the most important element of the Digital Silk Road project - the Trans-Caspian fiber-optic cable line, which will ensure the transfer of multi-terabit data volumes between Asia and Europe. The Digital Silk Road route will play an important role in improving the business environment, economic development and strengthening the position of our countries on the world stage, will open up new opportunities for regional cooperation, "said Sergey Nazarenko, General Director for Operational Affairs of AzerTelecom.

By September 2023, within the framework of the Digital Silk Road project, a high-level design HLD (high-level design) of the future underwater highway was developed and a detailed roadmap for the project was approved, Kazakhtelecom JSC reported^[2]

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