TransTeleCom Company CJSC, a Russia-based telecommunications network operator, is seeking to double its international revenue this year, fuelled by expansion in the mainland as demand for bandwidth to other countries grows in the run-up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
TransTeleCom, owned by the Russia's state-owned railway operator, operates and owns the country's largest fibre-optic network. Laid along railways, it has more than 950 access sites in Russia and along the boundaries of Europe and Asia.
By connecting the fibre optic network in the eastern borders of Eastern Europe and western boarders of China and Japan, the company is able to offer its customers a 'Eurasia Highway' from London to Tokyo.
'We want to be one of the leading bandwidth suppliers in China to help international broadcasters carrying live signals of the Beijing Olympics in 2008 through our Eurasia Highway,' Igor Kelshev, senior vice-president for international sales and marketing, said in Hong Kong last week.
'We have spent more than US$1 billion to build the Russian fibre network and we are seeking to connect our network to other destinations.'
TransTeleCom developed interconnection agreements with mainland telecommunications network operators China Unicom, ChinaTietong and China Netcom last year and expects to sign an agreement with China Telecom this year.
The Russian company has also reached agreement with Japan-based fixed-line operator NTT Communications to build a cable connecting Russia's eastern Sakhalin region and the Japanese island of Hokkaido with an investment of US$40 million.
