Trans-Caspian fiber-optic line between Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan could cost $50 mln

ASTANA. June 18 (Interfax) - The project to lay a trans-Caspian fiber-optic communications line will cost more than 23 billion tenge or $50 million, the investors being Kazakhstan's Kazakhtelecom and Azerbaijan's AzerTelecom, Kazakh Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry Minister Zhaslan Madiyev said at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

Kazakhtelecom will co-finance project, with a contract due to be signed with an EPC contractor in July. At the moment, the partners are selecting the EPC contractor. The first stage of the tender is complete and the second ends in June, according to a presentation for a report by Kazakhtelecom CEO Bagdat Musin at the meeting.

Necessary in-house and studies and coastal surveying will be carried out in October of this year and approvals for marine survey works will be sought in December, he said.

Madiyev said the fiber-optic line would be 370 km long - previously it was expected to be around 380 km long.

"For the development of the digital Silk Road and for Kazakhstan to become established as a regional digital hub, the national project provides for laying a fiber-optical line along the Caspian Sea bed with a length of 370 km. Investments by telecom operators of the two countries [Kazakhtelecom and AzerTelecom] will amount to more than 23 billion tenge," the minister said.

Kazakhtelecom and AzerTelecom have formed a joint venture, Caspinet B.V., for the project. The fiber-optic line's bandwidth will be up to 400 Terabits per second.

Kazakhtelecom is the leading communication operator in Kazakhstan holding a dominant position on the domestic market of telecommunication services. The major shareholder of Kazakhtelecom is Kazakhstan's Sovereign Wealth Fund Samruk-Kazyna.

AzerTelecom, part of NEQSOL Holding, is the leading communication operator in Azerbaijan.