Rostelecom completes construction of stage two of TEA NEXT trans-Eurasian fiber optic line

MOSCOW. March 7 (Interfax) - PJSC Rostelecom has completed construction of stage two of the new TEA NEXT trans-Eurasian fiber-optic communication line with a length of 765 km, the operator said in a statement.

Stage two of the new fiber optic main line stretches from St. Petersburg to Moscow. It is technically ready to begin commercial operation, the statement says.

"Using the TEA NEXT infrastructure, it is planned to introduce a fundamentally new set of services to the Russian market to provide fiber-optic infrastructure and the necessary additional resources for the organization of backbone new-generation communication networks to interested clients in Russia," the statement says.

Rostelecom President Mikhail Oseevsky said that the implementation of the project involves the use of Russian-made components.

The new TEA NEXT fiber-optic line will connect the western and eastern borders of Russia with links to the largest cities of the country and access to the Russia-Mongolia, Russia-China borders and the coastal station of underwater communication lines in Nakhodka. The design capacity of the new fiber-optic line will be 96 dark fibers, which will be used as a transit resource for communication between Asia and Europe and by Russian operators inside Russia. The TEA NEXT route will be laid along a new, optimal route and will become an alternative to maritime cable systems from China through the Indian Ocean and Egypt. Meanwhile, the cost of transmitting information via TEA NEXT will be significantly lower than through marine systems, thanks to the capacity of the latest-generation cable and the advanced technical solutions used.

Construction of the first stage of the communication line, which connects the cities of Idritsa in the Pskov region and Torzhok in the Tver region, was completed at the end of 2022. Rostelecom began construction on stage three, with fiber-optic communication lines between the cities of Torzhok in the Tver region and Kyakhta in Buryatia on the eastern border of Russia with Mongolia in December, 2023. Construction of this section, with a total length of about 6,300 km, is planned for completion by the end of 2025.

The first stage is planned for completion by the end of 2025, and will extend the line to Mongolia and China. The entire terrestrial part of the communication line, which is part of stage two of the construction passing through the territory of Russia, will be completely ready in 2026. In parallel, the necessary infrastructure will be provided for the international extensions of lines included in the third stage of the project.

Rostelecom started work on the TEA NEXT project in the summer of 2020, creating the Atlas operating company. Construction of the first stage of fiber-optic communication lines began in 2021. Rostelecom has been developing the TEA NEXT project since December 2021 alongside the Web Ventures fund, which owned 49.99% of Atlas. The fund withdrew from the joint venture in July 2023, and in October 2023 Alfa Bank received the right to acquire the share. Another 0.02% of Atlas belongs to its general director Alexander Ratushny (prior to September 2023, it was owned by Vladimir Koryagin).

In 2021, the total investment in the TEA NEXT project was estimated at $650 million through 2025.