SOCAR Fiber project may be integrated with other countries’ cable infrastructure

There are plans to integrate the project of laying a fiber optic cable along the route of the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) in Turkey with the cable infrastructure of other countries, head of SOCAR Turkey Enerji (a subsidiary of Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR in Turkey) Zaur Gahramanov told Trend.

The project is being implemented by SOCAR Fiber company established by SOCAR Turkey Enerji.

Gahramanov said that the main goal of the project is to ensure access for Turkey and the countries of the region to global telecommunication centers with the help of a new and more secure route.

"The growing demands on data transmission and the need of communication companies in new fiber optic lines make it necessary to implement such a project in order to meet these requirements as part of synergy with SOCAR’s construction work on TANAP," he noted. "SOCAR Fiber plans to offer information exchange services using more reliable fiber optic line in the modern IT market."

He added that at the next stages of the project, it is planned to expand the fiber optic cable infrastructure along the existing and new oil and gas pipelines in different directions and integrate it with the communication lines of the countries through which they pass.

Regarding the cost of the project, Gahramanov noted that it would be more correct to provide final information after the project is completed, because SOCAR Fiber is being implemented together with the TANAP project.

The opening of TANAP is scheduled for June 12, 2018.

TANAP project envisages transportation of gas from Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz field to the western borders of Turkey. The gas will be delivered to Turkey in 2018 and after completion of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline's construction the gas will be delivered to Europe in early 2020.

The length of TANAP is 1,850 kilometers with an initial capacity of 16 billion cubic meters of gas. Around six billion cubic meters of this gas is meant to be delivered to Turkey, with the remaining volume to be supplied to Europe.

Thus, the share distribution of TANAP shareholders is as follows: Southern Gas Corridor CJSC - 51 percent, SOCAR Turkey Enerji - 7 percent, Botas - 30 percent, BP - 12 percent.