Azerbaijan, Baku / Trend corr S. Babayeva / Azerbaijan is ready for laying of the Caspian segment of the Trans-Asia-Europe fibre-optic cable main (ТАЕ), the Azerbaijani Deputy Communications & IT Minister Iltimas Mammadov said on 5 December.
"We are intensively negotiating with Kazakhstan in this connection. Recently Turkmenistan began showing an active interest in the project," Mammadov said.
Turkey is also interested in that, as data traffic to the country via Azerbaijan is more profitable.
According to Mammadov, presently Azerbaijan is waiting for completion of the negotiations on construction of the fibre-optic main, which may be laid via Kazakhstan or Turkmenistan.
Cost of the construction of the cable along the bed of the sea was assessed in 1999 at $10mln.
Length of the cable to link Kazakhstan with Azerbaijan will make up some 380km. For the time being the route runs via Turkmenistan and Iran passing around Azerbaijan.
Implementation of the project will accelerate data traffic.