Azerbaijan, Baku / Trend , corr. S. Babayeva/ Within the recent visit of the Azerbaijan's Telecommunications and IT Minister, Ali Abbasov, to Latvia, a protocol was signed between the operators of Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan on the project on the construction of the Caspian Underwater Segment of the Optical Cable Main - "Trans-Asia-Europe" (TAE), the Minister said on 1 June.
According to Abbasov, the protocol will help accelerate the project's realization. The next step will be establishing a consortium attended by Ukraine and Georgia. The issue of establishing a consortium will be resolved at the end of June in Baku.
"The key requirement for the establishment of the consortium was to sign a protocol and we were able to make it," the Minister said.
The cost of the cable constructed via the sea bed is approximately $7 - $10mln. The length of the TAE section between Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan is 380km. At the present time the route runs via Turkmenistan and Iran, beyond the territory of Azerbaijan.
Construction work on all the segments of the TAE fiber-optic cable from Shanghai to Frankfurt-on-Main, except the Caspian underwater section have been completed, therefore data and information exchange via the TAE cable is carried out through the territory of Iran and Russia, and that reduces the security of the main and significantly extends its length.
In the case of implementation of the mentioned project, Azerbaijan will become the key data transit state in the region. The project will also allow the whole of middle Asia to directly link with Turkey via the territory of Azerbaijan. At the same time, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Georgia and other surrounding countries will have the possibility to establish their connection with China via the territory of Kazakhstan.