Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 9
By Huseyn Veliyev - Trend:
Azerbaijan is ready to provide a loan to Kazakhstan for construction of an underwater cable segment of Trans-Eurasian Super Highway (TASIM), a source on the telecommunications market told Trend Feb. 9.
The source said that promising directions and plans for further work on the project TASIM were discussed last week in Kazakhstan.
"Evaluation of underwater segment construction is currently underway, and the final cost will be known after the topographical work," said the source. "The proposal of Azerbaijan to finance cabling along the bottom of the Caspian Sea under the terms of the loan to the Kazakh side remains in force."
Commenting on the expansion of TASIM coverage, the source mentioned that Azerbaijan is open to dialogue.
"The volume of traffic consumed in the region is growing steadily," said the source. "Therefore, even if the cable is laid on an alternative route, there can't be any question regarding restrictions."
Earlier, the Russian side has proposed a new route TASIM - Ashgabat - Makhachkala, so that the network would cover the south of Russia and have a wider scope.
"It will not be problematic to extend the cable to the end point if it is laid according to the options proposed by the Russian side," said the source. "There is no doubt that the Caspian segment in the direction of Kazakhstan has always been a priority for Azerbaijan and remains so."
TASIM project has regional significance, and its purpose is the laying of transnational fiber highway covering the Eurasian countries from Western Europe to East Asia.
At present, the TASIM project includes such countries as Russia (RosTelecom), Kazakhstan (KazTransCom), Turkey (TurkTelecom), China (China Telecom), and Azerbaijan (represented by the Center for International Relations and Calculations of the Ministry of Communications and High Technologies).
The project aims at reducing poverty and accelerating the economic growth. It can also play a leading role in the region's development.
The TASIM project is designed to connect 20 countries, and its realization will help to address the information gap between Western Europe and the Pacific Basin.
Edited by CN
Follow the author on Twitter: @h_veliyev