In an effort to tap into the fast-growing data-delivery demand between Asia and Europe, Russian telecom operator TransTeleCom opened an office in Beijing yesterday, Russia's first in the Asia-Pacific region.

"The office will play an essential role for us to implement the Eurasia Highway project, which is the shortest digital route interconnecting European and Asian telecommunication networks," said Sergei Lipatov, president of TransTeleCom.

TransTeleCom, which was founded in 1997 to provide telecommunications services to Russian Railways, now operates the largest fiber-optic network in Russia, with more than 50,000 km of line laid along its railroads. The Russian company is now using its network in Russia to build the Eurasia Highway, a transcontinental route for data transit between Europe and Asia.

The company says the Eurasia Highway is much more protected from natural disasters such as earthquakes, compared to existing transit routes along the seabed of the Indian Ocean. It is counting on the route to account for more than 15 percent of the data-transit market between China and Europe, which it expects will quadruple to $500 million by 2011.

"The new office will help us further develop ties with Chinese telecom operators for the Eurasia Highway," said Lipatov. "The route, with Hong Kong as a key transit hub, needs the support of Chinese operators."

The Russian company has worked with four Chinese telecom operators - China Unicom, China Netcom, China Tietong and China Telecom -since 2002 to build networks in China for the Eurasia Highway. It's also considering similar cooperation with other Chinese telecom companies.

Earlier this year, TransTeleCom also established a joint project with Japan NTT Communications to build an underwater fiber-optic cable between Sakhalin and Hokkaido as part of the Eurasia Highway.

TransTeleCom expects its Beijing office to support the growing number of Russian companies in China.

(China Daily September 19, 2007)