Turkic Council hails Trans-Caspian Fiber Optic line

ANKARA

The Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States (Turkic Council) hailed Thursday the construction of a Trans-Caspian Fiber Optic line between Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan.

"I believe that this remarkable development will add significant momentum to the activities of the Turkic Council and ever-increasing cooperation among the Member countries and peoples," Turkic Council Secretary General Baghdad Amreyev said in a statement, referring to the launch of the project that is to lie the cable at the bottom of the Caspian Sea between the two countries.

Construction began Nov. 19 in Kazakhstan's western city of Aktau with te participation of the Prime Minister of Azerbaijan Ali Asadov and Kazakh counterpart Askar Mamin.

"On this occasion, I extend my congratulations on the starting of implementation of such an important project and the support of Turkic Council to all initiatives that serve sustainable development of the Member States," Amreyev said.

He stressed that information and communication technology (ICT) is among the crucial topics in the Turkic Council's agenda.

Amreyev went on to say that during the last two years, the Turkic Council has arranged three meetings of ministers in charge of ICT, and has taken "necessary measures to strengthen and broaden the framework of cooperation in ICT sector" among the member countries.

Trans-Caspian Fiber Optic line construction

As one of the main components of the Trans-Eurasian Information Super Highway (TASIM), the project was initiated by Azerbaijan in 2008 and is expected to be operational by the end of 2021, the statement said.

The joint construction of fiber optic transmission lines -- cable with a length of around 380-400 kilometers (around 240 miles) along the bottom of the Caspian Sea on the Azerbaijan-Kazakhstan route -- is managed by Azerbaijan's telecom operator AzerTelecom and Kazakhstan's operators Transtelecom JSC and KazTransCom.

It is expected to allow the transmission of data with a capacity of at least 4-6 terabits per second.

The TASIM project is a major regional initiative aimed at the creation of transnational fiber-optic backbone targeting primarily the countries of Eurasia from Western Europe to Eastern Asia, which envisages building a major new transit route from Frankfurt to Hong Kong, according to its website.