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Kazakhstan delays TAE feasibility study agreement with consulting firm

25 November 2008 15:06 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Ilhama Isabalayeva - APA. Accuim international consulting firm has not been awarded a contract to perform a feasibility study of Siyazan (Azerbaijan)-Aktau (Kazakhstan) segment of the Trans-Asia-Europe (TAE) fiber-optic cable line across the Caspian Sea, said Jalil Jafarov, International Relations Officer of Azerbaijanâ€™s Ministry of Communications and Information Technologies.
He attributed the delay to the fact that Kazakhstan has not signed a contract with the consulting firm yet.
He noted that a tender will be announced for the construction of this segment after the consulting firm completes its task.
The TAE project envisions a 16,800-mile telecommunications line through 20 countries, from Frankfurt am Main in Germany to Shanghai in China. The TAE fiber optic line is designed to transmit voice, data, fax and video information.
Azerbaijanâ€™s and Kazakhstan have signed a protocol for construction of the Caspian segment.
By calculations in 1999, the cost of the project to lay the cable on the sea bottom between Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan was about $10 million but the cost may change after recalculations.
The route includes cable lines Baku (Azerbaijan)-Astara (Iran) 345km, Baku-Russia 250km and Siyazan (Azerbaijan)-Aktau (Kazakhstan) 400km.