CENTRAL ASIA BRANCHING INTO OPTICAL FIBER COMMUNICATIONS.

Germany’s Siemens company has begun laying the Uzbek section of the Trans-Asia-Europe (TAE) optical fiber communication trunkline. Under contract with Uzbekistan’s Communications Ministry, the work is due to be completed by the end of 1996 at a cost of $25 million, credited by German banks. Siemens is also supplying the cable and the transmission equipment. The 950-kilometer-long Uzbek segment will link up with the 711-kilometer-long Turkmen segment to be laid from March 1996 to March 1997 by Iran’s state telecommunications company under contract with Turkmentelekom. The latter is prepaying 15 percent of the $22 million cost and the Islamic Development Bank is crediting the remainder. The Iranian company won a tender against European and Japanese companies. TAE will run from Shanghai to Frankfurt am Main via Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Ukraine. (15)

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