TransTeleCom will become Japan’s digital window to Europe in three years, says the company’s president Sergey Lipatov.
Photo: Alexander Miridonov
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Russian and Japanese IT Giants to Conquer Europe
Russia’s TransTeleCom and Japanese NTT on Tuesday announced plans to span a digital data route between Japan and Europe via Russia. The companies expect the joint venture’s turnover to reach an annual $200 million by 2010 and cover one-third of Japan’s international digital data traffic.
TransTeleCom and NTT signed a memorandum of agreement on Tuesday as part of the visit of Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov to Japan. The 500 km-long cable route running under the water from the Japanese island of Hakkaido to the Russian town of Nevelsk will be put into operation at the end of the year, TransTeleCom told Kommersant. The project is estimated to be worth $50 million. TransTeleCom’s president says that the venture will start turning profit in two years’ time, the company’s president Sergey Lipatov says. The companies expect an annual profit of $200 million and 30 percent Japan’s incoming and outgoing Internet and telephone traffic by 2010.
TransTeleCom has Russia’s largest, 50,000 km-long optical fiber network in 71 regions of the country. Russian Railways owns 100 percent in the company.
Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT) is Japan’s major ICT solution provider with 51 million subscribers. The Japanese government holds 33.7 percent in the company with the remaining stocks in the hands of private investors.
The market of the digital data transmission between Europe and Asia is booming as profits of the market’s operations grow 30 percent a year. Experts note, however, TransTeleCom and NTT will have to face stiff competition on the market, particularly after Rostelecom, Russia’s another telecommunications giant, has announced plans to build an optical route between Russia and Japan.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Feb. 28, 2007
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