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PROJECT DESCRIPTION
TRANS-RUSSIAN OPTICAL NETWORK -TRON- BACKGROUND The Trans-Russian Optical
Network (TRON) is designed to provide, on the basis of state-of-the-art
fiber-optic backbone lines crossing Russia from East to West, a reliable and
cost-effective route for voice, data, video, internet or any other
telecommunication traffic transiting between Western Europe and the Pacific
region, including Japan and other Far Eastern countries.
When completed, the TRON will be one of the world’s largest fiber-optic
networks, ideally located to service the booming data-transmission needs between
some of the world’s largest markets, not to forget the needs of the nascent
Russian market. The
TRON’s backbone cables will be Optical Ground Wire (OPT-GW) which will replace
the current ground wires on high-tension electric power towers of the national
power grid operated by the giant Russian utility, RAO United Energy Systems (RAO
UES)
[1]. The OPT-GW, which will include 96 or 144 optical fibers
within a ground wire, will thus continue to fulfill the function of the current
ground wires, i.e. protect the
power-grid cables against the effects of lightning. Modern optical multiplexing
technology has made it possible for the TRON to gain capacity measured in
terabits (1,000 gigabits per second). This technological option of installing
OPT-GW next to high-voltage cable has proved itself reliable in Europe, USA,
South America and Eastern Europe, including Russia. The rights to the Project are currently held by a special
purpose vehicle, FTA Enterprises Ltd[2]
(“FTA”). FTA is a limited
liability company incorporated in Cyprus, a jurisdiction which is extensively
used by foreign institutional and private investors due to its highly favorable
tax treaty with Russia. FTA is
currently owned by the original promoters of the project, as well as by Western
and Russian investors who provided first stage financing for its development. Following the signature of a
Framework Agreement between FTA and RAO UES on December 19, 2000 under which it
acquired exclusive “right of way” across Russia for a period of up to 50
years (25 years option). Simultaneously, FTA is actively conducting negotiations
with suppliers and purchasers of dark fibre and capacity. PROJECT
PHASES TRON PROPOSED
ROUTES Construction
of the cable incorporates three phases, which are: 1.
Construction of network West of Moscow 2.
Construction of first route to China 3.
Construction of network East of Moscow. The
first phase comprises three planned routes: 1.
Moscow-Riga (TRON) 2.
Moscow-St. Petersburg-Vyborg-Finnish border
(TRON-2) 3.
Moscow-Kiev-Vienna. TRON and TRON-2 will
originate in Moscow and extend to Western Europe. The project’s length is
1,505 km for the first route and 1,000 km for the second one. The construction
start date is planned for June-July 2001. The second phase includes
Moscow-Samara-Almaty-Chinese border route. The
third phase spans the routes: 1.
Moscow-Vladivostok (TRON-3) 2.
Moscow-Sov.Gavan (TRON-4). TRON-3 and TRON-4 are
designed to network the territory of the Russian Federation to the East from Moscow and enter Asia,
with a multi-ring, fully redundant, protected structure. The detailed design of
the routes has been prepared by a Russian company “Opten” and approved by
RAO UES. The
TRON project will enable telecom carriers to provide value-added services to the
end-users, due to the fact of construction under the best available current
technology; high level service reliability factor, operation and maintenance
under the world telecom standards. The TRON project is supported by the group of
the most experienced companies, specialising in the telecommunications industry.
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[1] For more information on RAO UES, please visit http://www.rao-ees.ru [2] For more information on FTA Enterprises Ltd, please visit http://www.fta.ru |
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