Tehran, Iran, Aug. 20
By Temkin Jafarov, Anvar Mammadov - Trend:
Iran is ready to cooperate with Azerbaijan on the Trans-Eurasian Information Super Highway (TASIM) project, Mahmoud Vaezi, minister of communications and information technology of Iran, co-chairman of the intergovernmental commission, said in an exclusive interview with Trend August 20.
"We want to cooperate with Azerbaijan on the TASIM project, and I am ready to discuss this issue with Minister of Communications and Information Technologies of Azerbaijan Ali Abbasov," said Vaezi. "I believe that at this moment, the countries are interested in connection through various channels and ways. All this is being done in order to ensure that communications between the two countries intensify. We welcome the cooperation in this sphere."
He also said that Iran is preparing to launch the second phase of large-scale international project EPEG (Europe-Persia Express Gateway) after determining tariffs for traffic transit.
"Work on the project goes at a good pace," the minister said. "We've got everything ready, and in the near future we will launch the second phase of the EPEG project. Iran made very large investments in this project, and we believe it has great potential. Regarding the tariffs, I cannot say anything about them now, as tariffs are now very variable all over the world."
TASIM project aims to reduce poverty, speed up economic growth, and can also play a leading role in the development of the region. Its implementation will eliminate the "information gap" between the countries of the West Europe and Pacific Basin.
TASIM project envisages the creation of a major transit line from Frankfurt to Hong Kong. The network, which will link the largest information exchange centers in Europe and Asia, will run through China, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey to Germany.
TASIM project involves such countries as Russia represented by Rostelecom (operator), Kazakhstan (KazTransCom), Turkey (TurkTelecom - operator), China (China Telecom). Azerbaijan is represented by the Center of International Relations and Calculations of the Ministry of Communications and High Technologies.
In June 2011, a consortium of four leading telecom carriers from four countries signed the Construction and Maintenance Agreement for the new cable system - Europe-Persia Express Gateway (EPEG). The new system with an initial capacity of 540 (54×10) Gbps was put in operation in December 2012.
The system passes from Frankfurt across Eastern Europe, Russia, Azerbaijan, Iran and Persian Gulf to Barka in the Sultanate of Oman. The design capacity of the EPEG system is up to 3.2 Tbps with total length of approximately 10,000 kilometers, 9,500 kilometers of which is a terrestrial fiber cable.
Edited by CN
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