Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept.24
By Huseyn Veliyev - Trend:
Work on the business model preparation of the Trans-Eurasian Information Super Highway (TASIM) construction project will be completed by the end of September, a source in the telecommunications market of Azerbaijan told Trend Sept.24.
The document is prepared by the TASIM project participants, the agency spokesman said. It is intended to determine how the traffic will be managed, and the distribution of investments and income.
Currently, the prospects of the growth of the needs of the Chinese and Turkish markets in the Internet services in the coming years are also being studied.
The subject for discussion is also the issue of laying the Caspian segment of the cable main line between Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, and the possibilities of construction of an alternative underwater route towards Turkmenistan are being studied.
The contract between Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan on the construction of the underwater segment will be signed in the near future, the Ministry of Communications and High Technologies of Azerbaijan stated earlier.
Recently, the World Bank offered participants of the TASIM project to create a third alternative route through the territory of Turkmenistan, which also has an outlet in China with the continuation of the East Asian countries (Indonesia, Vietnam, etc.), where demand for Internet content is high. One of the future goals is to prepare a feasibility study on a new route, and work in this direction is already underway.
Issues related to the third alternative route have already been discussed at a meeting of TASIM project participants, which took place in Baku July 11.
All of these aspects will be reflected in a principle agreement on the TASIM construction, the signing of which will be possible after an agreement between the project participants.
TASIM project provides the creation of a major transit link from Frankfurt to Hong Kong. The network, which will bring together the largest information exchange centers in Europe and Asia, will run through China, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey to Germany.
Laying of the second northern alternative transit link is planned on the territory of Russia, Ukraine and Poland.
The TASIM project involves countries such as Russia represented by Rostelecom, Kazakhstan (KazTransCom), Turkey (TurkTelecom), China (China Telecom). Azerbaijan is represented by the Center of International Relations and Calculations Ministry of Communications and High-tech.
Construction is scheduled for 2016.
TASIM project aims to reduce poverty, accelerate economic growth, and can also play a leading role in the development of the region. Its implementation will eliminate the "information gap" between Western Europe and the Pacific.
