Polarnet to build trans-Atlantic cable line for almost $2 billion
MOSCOW. Oct 17 (Interfax) - The Polarnet Company plans the construction of a Russian trans-Arctic cable line, Rotax, with the cost of nearly $2 billion.
The Governmental Commission for Federal Communications and Technological Issues approved the project last Friday. Polarnet Project Deputy General Director Ruslan Saushkin presented the prospective cable line.
He said the project would be implemented in three steps. The first stage implies the laying of a cable line in the Russian economic zone of the Arctic and Pacific Oceans from Bude (the UK) to Tokyo via Murmansk, Anadyr and Vladivostok. The first stage cost is preliminary estimated at $860 million.
The second stage implies the laying of cable line extensions to the coast of the Russian Arctic and Far East territories and has the cost of $500 million.
The third stage will lay the land segment of the cable line as an element of the national optical fiber network in the strategic partnership with Transneft. It will cost $500 million.
"The agreement with Transneft has been concluded," Saushkin said.
The cable line will have the capacity of 9.6 terabytes per second. Its total length is 17,000 kilometers and the useful life is 25 years.
The line's signal delay indicator will stand at 190 milliseconds between London and Tokyo, which is less than the competitive routes from London to Tokyo across the Indian Ocean (340 milliseconds) and the U.S. territory (310 milliseconds), Saushkin said.
The line will be divided into the western segment, from the UK to Murmansk (4,600 kilometers), the central Arctic segment from Murmansk to Anadyr (6,600 kilometers), seven extensions included, and the eastern segment from Anadyr to Vladivostok of 4,900 kilometers (plus three extensions of 1,600 kilometers). A direct link to China is planned in the future.
According to SPARK, Polarnet Project belongs to Oleg Kim at 100%. He is a co-founder of Sukhoi Nafta Corporation and a number of other companies.
