Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan launch Trans-Caspian fibre-optic link

President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev officially launched the Trans-Caspian fibre-optic cable link.

The online ceremony took place in Baku on 15 October.

The cable runs along the seabed of the Caspian Sea between Aktau and Sumgayit. It is approximately 380 km long and has a capacity of more than 400 terabits per second.

The project was implemented as part of the Digital Silk Road initiative. The link provides a direct data transmission route between Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan.

The new digital route will enable data transmission from China and Central Asian countries to Europe through Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. From there, traffic can continue via the Black Sea or Türkiye.

The link is expected to strengthen the role of the Middle Corridor not only as a transport route but also as a channel for international data exchange.

The cable is expected to improve the resilience of digital communications between Asia and Europe. The project also creates opportunities to attract investment in data centres, cloud services, and computing capacity for artificial intelligence.