Russia has linked Europe and Asia with a new digital trunk line, which is set to become one of the fastest data transmission routes between Europe and Asia
Russia has launched a new digital trunk route between Europe and Asia. Rostelecom has completed the construction of the Trans Eurasian fibre-optic line TEA NEXT (Transit Europe–Asia Next Generation), which crosses the country from west to east and reaches the borders of China and Mongolia.
The route passes through St Petersburg, the Tver Region, Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan, Yekaterinburg, Tyumen, Novosibirsk, Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk, Ulan-Ude, Chita and Khabarovsk, finishing in Vladivostok. In effect, a new high-speed corridor for transmitting ever-growing volumes of data has appeared along the entire length of the country – both within Russia and in transit between European and Asian networks.
The new line comprises 96 so-called dark fibres – currently unused optical channels that can be leased by Russian and international telecoms operators and major technology companies. The first Russian operators have already become TEA NEXT customers; according to Rostelecom, companies from China, Mongolia and the CIS countries are also showing interest in the trunk line.
One of the principal characteristics of the new network is signal transmission speed. On the Moscow–Kyakhta section, round-trip latency is no more than 65 milliseconds – at least half that of comparable submarine optical routes. Depending on the equipment used, the cable’s maximum throughput can reach 384 or 768 Tbps, and in future exceed 1 Pbps. By way of comparison, the maximum capacity of the existing PEACE submarine system between Singapore and Marseille is estimated at 96 Tbps, while that of SeaMeWe-6, currently under construction, stands at 136 Tbps.
The significance of the new trunk line extends far beyond faster internet. Growing data volumes and the development of artificial intelligence, cloud services and data centres demand ever greater bandwidth between regions and countries. TEA NEXT creates a new infrastructure corridor for this purpose across Russian territory – while simultaneously allowing the country to stake a claim to a more prominent role in data transit between Europe and Asia.
The next stage could see the Russian network extended into the Asia-Pacific region: Rostelecom is already considering building a submarine fibre-optic line from Vladivostok to Hong Kong. Should this happen, the overland TEA NEXT could become part of a considerably longer international digital route.
Russians Travel to China Three Times More Often Than Chinese Citizens Visit Russia – How Can This Imbalance Be Reduced?
The Amber Museum in Kaliningrad is hosting an exhibition of historical tableware and decorative items made from the sunstone.
In Ulan-Ude, Bato-Munko Chimitov, the only professional bone carver in the Republic of Buryatia, showcases his works alongside his students, to whom he is gradually passing on the craft in which he has been almost the sole practitioner for nearly half a century.
