Telia IC to invest $10m in Russia

Telia International Carrier (Sweden), a backbone provider, an owner of fiber-optic network in Europe and the USA and a part of the Telia AB holding, is to invest about $10m in the creation of the Russian infrastructure in 2002, the company reported to RBC. The funds are invested first of all in the creation of the Baltic Cable System (BKS). Its Moscow - St. Petersburg section will be launched in July 2002. NEC equipment, which supports the Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) technology, will be installed there. It will connect Moscow and St. Petersburg, the two main cities of the country, with Telia's worldwide network though Finland. BKS will be the Eastern part of the Viking global network of Telia IC and the basis for the further promotion of the company in Russia. Rostelecom will be the partner of Telia IC and provide it with its infrastructure. The construction of BKS is to be completed in November 2002, but only the Moscow - St. Petersburg section will be launched this year. Telia, Sonera, Telecominvest and CT-Mobile are the organizers of the national MegaFon project aimed at uniting regional GSM providers into a single network. Rostelecom is one of the largest telecommunications companies in Russia, the national operator of long-distance communications and one of the leaders on the Russian telecommunications market. Rostelecom's controlling stake (51 percent) is owned by Svyazinvest, a Russian telecommunications holding.