Azerbaijan, Baku, 17 March / Trend corr. S.Babayeva / The consultant to construct the Caspian segment of the Trans-Asia-Europe fibre-optic cable main (ТАЕ) may be specified by the end of 2008, the Azerbaijani Communication and IT Ministry reported.
"We submitted all the necessary documents to Kazakhstan and are waiting for a response, the Ministry said. The consultant has to develop a feasibility study within the framework of the project.
The Ministry said that currently proposals by three companies have been considered. "No problems will be experienced if the work is taken seriously and Kazakhstan becomes active," the Ministry stated.
The planned ТАЕ will be laid through Siyazan ( Azerbaijan) - Aktau ( Kazakhstan) route. At the same time negotiations are being held with Turkmenistan to lay an alternative route through Siyazan ( Azerbaijan) and Turkmanbashi ( Turkmenistan).
In 1999, the cost of the construction of the cable along the seabed was assessed at $10mln.
The sides have protocol signed by the Centre of International Communication and Accounting at the Azerbaijani Communication Ministry, operator from Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan's KazTransCom. Under this document, 50% of expenditures will be paid by Azerbaijan and 50% by Kazakhstan.
The length of the route between Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan will total 380km. Presently, there is a route via Turkmenistan and Iran, which passes through Azerbaijan.
The Azerbaijani Ministry believes the laying of the route will reduce the distance by 2,000 km which in turn will accelerate communication.