EPEG cable highway to be put into operation soon

The EPEG Consortium (Europe Persia Express Gateway) plans to put a cable highway into commercial operation in the near future. The consortium, consisting of the “Rostelecom”, “Cable & Wireless”,” TIC” and “Omantel” operator companies, was set up in May, 2011 with the aim of accomplishing a project for constructing an international cable highway connecting Europe with the Middle East.

According to a statement released by the Press-Service of the “Rostelecom” company, tests have been conducted on the highway since January, and all malfunctions detected in the work of equipment are now being removed. If all the tests are completed successfully, the highway will be put into operation in the first week of March.

The cable highway being constructed by “Cable & Wireless” connects Europe with the Ukraine. It is now being extended from the Ukraine into Russia and further to Iran through the Azerbaijani segment.

The “TIC” company is responsible for constructing the part of the highway that will connect Iran with Persian Gulf. The remaining part of the highway, from the Persian Gulf to Oman, will be constructed by the “Omantel” company. The capacity of the cable highway is estimated at 0.5 Tbit per second.

According the “ComNews Research” company’s estimations, the EPEG network has a total length of 6,000 km and its total price amounts to 200 million dollars. The Azerbaijani segment of the highway is being laid by the “Delta Telecom” company. Delta Telecom’s business manager, Rahid Alakbarli, told ICTnews that all tests on the Azerbaijani segment of the highway have been successfully completed and accepted by the consortium.

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