SOCAR, EXA Infrastructure sign new agreement on overland alternative to Red Sea Internet cable
BAKU. Jan 10 (Interfax) - SOCAR Fiber, the telecommunications subsidiary of SOCAR Turkiye Enerji, the Turkish division of thex State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR), signed a new strategic cooperation agreement on Thursday with EXA Infrastructure, a digital infrastructure platform that connects North America, Europe and Asia through the Middle East.
This agreement will enable SOCAR Fiber to connect to EXA Infrastructure's global access networks, SOCAR Fiber said in a statement. EXA Infrastructure will sell SOCAR Fiber's fiber optic infrastructure to global operators of data, cloud computing, content and technology centers.
The new agreement will also enable EXA Infrastructure to provide communication services through SOCAR Fiber's existing fiber optic infrastructure between Turkey and Greece along the route of the TANAP gas pipeline, and between Turkey and Georgia.
This service is especially important for accelerating digital traffic between Asia, the Middle and Europe, as well as for facilitating the regional exchange of data, the company said.
This project "will create new, scalable, and reliable routes within Turkey and provide new intercontinental traffic pathways from Asia," EXA Infrastructure's senior vice president for strategic investment and product management, Steve Roberts was quoted as saying in the press release.
"The first phase will link the Georgian border, gathering traffic from the South Caucasus and Central Asia. The second phase will connect the Iraqi border, bypassing the traditional Red Sea route for Middle Eastern traffic. Alongside our previous investments in the Trans Adriatic Express and the Balkans, this project will deliver the most modern and reliable fiber-optic infrastructure connecting Asia and Europe," Roberts said.
SOCAR Fiber and EXA Infrastructure first signed a strategic partnership agreement in July 2024 to develop a new terrestrial fiber optic route that will provide an alternative to the traditional Red Sea corridor used by submarine cables.
The new route will include SOCAR Fiber's 1,850-km fiber optic cable laid along the TANAP pipeline and its continuation to the border with Iraq to provide connectivity into the Persian Gulf region.
SOCAR Fiber has been providing telecom infrastructure services since 2013 with the fiber optic line along the 1,850-km TANAP pipeline. The line runs across Turkey from east to west, providing services to 20 provinces and 67 districts of the country.
The TANAP pipeline, which was built to carry Azerbaijani natural gas from the Shah Deniz field in Azerbaijan's section of the Caspian Sea under Stage 2 of the field's development, runs from the Georgian-Turkish border to Turkey's western border. The Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) carries Shah Deniz Stage 2 gas onward to Europe.