The Times of Central Asia, 16 October 2026
Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan have launched the first fiber-optic communications link across the Caspian seabed.
The approximately 380-kilometer cable connects Aktau and Sumgait, with Presidents Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and Ilham Aliyev inaugurating the line in Baku on October 15.
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Russian operators have long dominated Kazakhstan’s international connectivity. A 2025 Internet Society report identified them as the country’s principal suppliers of international bandwidth. The new route will give operators the option of directing data through Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey toward Europe, providing redundancy independent of existing routes through Russia. This is particularly important during outages or congestion on existing connections. Part of the broader Digital Silk Way initiative, the cable could also benefit Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, both of which rely on Kazakhstan for international internet connectivity.
The cable, supplied by a Chinese manufacturer, uses optical fiber made in Japan and terminal equipment from Western suppliers, according to the Caspian Policy Center. It has a design capacity of at least 400 terabits per second and was developed through CaspiLink, a joint venture between Kazakhstan’s Kazakhtelecom and Azerbaijan’s AzerTelecom. The project had been under discussion since 2019. In 2024, planned investment was estimated at more than 23 billion tenge (approximately $50 million).
Marine surveys began in August 2025. Underwater cable laying began in July 2026 and was completed on August 5, with the line inaugurated on October 15.
Kazakhstan also hopes to use the new connection to attract technology companies. Bagdat Mussin, chairman of Kazakhtelecom’s management board, said the cable could support Kazakhstan’s Data Center Valley, a complex under development in Ekibastuz for cloud computing and artificial intelligence.
Mussin also told reporters that adjustments to the line would continue through the end of 2026, with the benefits expected to be felt no earlier than early 2027, according to Tengrinews.
As The Times of Central Asia previously reported, Kazakhstan must also secure reliable electricity supplies and sufficient demand for its planned data center capacity.
Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Development estimates that the new route could help more than double the country’s international data transit to 21.6 Tbps in the coming years. How much traffic will initially use the cable, including traffic redirected from existing routes through Russia, remains unclear.
