KDDI, Rostelecom to lay fiber-optic cables between Japan, Russia

Japanese telecommunications firm KDDI Corp. said Tuesday it has agreed with Rostelecom, the largest Russian long-distance telecom provider, to jointly lay undersea fiber-optic cables between their countries by March 2008.

The cables will link Joetsu, Niigata Prefecture, with Nakhodka in the Russian Far East, and be connected with Rostelecom's lines between Russia and Europe, KDDI said.

The move is aimed at responding to an expected increase in demand among corporate clients for data transmissions between Japan and Europe as well as Japan and Russia, it said.

The total cost of around 5 billion yen will be split between KDDI and Rostelecom, KDDI said.

Work to lay two 900-kilometer cables, including a backup, will begin in summer 2007, it said. Each line will be able to send data at 640 gigabits per second, about 1,000 times the volume of the current line linking Japan and Russia.

KDDI said it is the first time for it to lay undersea cables linking Japan with abroad since 2001, when it linked cables between Japan and other Asian countries including China and South Korea.