Laying an underwater Arctic fiber-optic cable from Murmansk to Vladivostok will cost around $0.8-1.2 billion.

“Our project for the construction of an underwater Arctic fiber-optic cable from Murmansk to Vladivostok, connecting Europe and Asia, is a key infrastructure initiative. It is a commercial project, as we are not asking for any funding from the state. We know how to implement this investment project in terms of attractive economic payback,” MegaFon CEO Gevork Vermishyan said at the Arctic: Today and the Future forum in St. Petersburg.

In November the company, together with Rosgeologia, completed the first stage of surveying route sections in the waters of the Northern Sea Route with a total length of 6,500 kilometers. According to the plan, the second stage of the survey will be carried out in 2021 and will include studying the geology of the seafloor. Based on the results, the best route for cable-laying will be selected and the places for building branches to the shore will be determined. The length of the fiber-optic transmission line be around 10,000 kilometers.