Russia to build fiber-optic line to Crimea
MOSCOW. July 28 (Interfax) - Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has signed a decree on building an underwater fibre-optic line connecting the Taman Peninsula with the Crimean Peninsula across the Kerch Strait the Russian Government's website said on Tuesday.
The fibre-optic line connecting is planned to be built in 2015-2017. The capacity of the line will be at least 200 GB/s. After it goes into operation, the capacity of the communication channels supporting the operation of the communications networks in the Crimean Federal District and Sevastopol within the unified telecommunication network of the Russian Federation will amount to no less than 310 GB/s in 2018," the text of the decree says.
"The newly signed executive order approves the rules for providing subsidies in 2015-2017 for reimbursing a portion of the costs in order to implement the federal programme, Socioeconomic Development of the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol to 2020, to build communication channels in the Crimean Federal District within the unified telecommunications network of the Russian Federation (this FTP is part of the state programme, Socioeconomic Development of the Crimean Federal District to 2020)," it says.
The construction of the communication line will provide for the redundancy of communication channels to ensure the functioning of the networks in Crimea and Sevastopol within the unified telecommunication network of the Russian Federation; the ability to establish communication channels with increased capacity, including special communications; broadband Internet access, telephony and television in the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol.
The Russian Communications Ministry will allocate the subsidies for the fiber-optic line's construction by closed tender among operators with licenses to provide voice and data services in Crimea and Sevastopol. The subsidies will over up to 80% of the cost of laying the line. The work must be complete by Q4 2017.
Communications Minister Nikolai Nikiforov said in August last year that there were plans to build what will be a second underwater fiber-optic communications line to Crimea. He said the ministry could announce a tender to find a contractor, who would receive a government subsidy preliminarily estimated at 400 million rubles.
National telecommunications operator OJSC Rostelecom finished building the first 46-kilometer fiber-optic line to Crimea in April 2014. The line goes from Rostelecom Yug, Rostelecom's regional subsidiary, to Kerch and includes an above- and underwater portion. The second line will likely extend along another route and have higher capacity and reliability, Nikiforov said.
Rostelecom chief Sergei Kalugin has said the company did not want to be in the frame for the contract to build the second line. He said the 'Big Three' cellular providers were interested in that.
Transtelecom (TTC) has also said it is interested in the project. "We have a lot of experience at laying lines like this. An underwater line from Sakhalin to Hokkaido is already in service. We'll begin with consultations, because there's not only an underwater section [of cable] needed there under the strait. It's important that networks reach the main cities [of Crimea], where traffic is concentrated," TTC's president, Artem Kudryavtsev, has said.