Infrastructure, transportation
Trans-Arctic cable to go via Murmansk 
(Trude Pettersen/Barents Observer, 17 October 2011) -- A Trans-Arctic fiber optic line connecting Tokyo and London is planned to go through Murmansk. The Russian company Polarnet Project plans the construction of a Russian trans-Arctic cable line, Rotax, with the cost of nearly $2 billion. The Governmental Commission for Federal Communications and Technological Issues approved the project last Friday. The 17,000 kilometer submerged line is planned to extend from Russia’s Arctic to Pacific coast, with an expected capacity of 9.6 terabits per second, Interfax reports. The project is planned to be implemented in three steps. The first stage implies the laying of a cable line in the Russian economic zone of the Arctic and Pacific Oceans from Bude (the UK) to Tokyo via Murmansk, Anadyr and Vladivostok. The first stage cost is preliminary estimated at $860 million. The second stage implies the laying of cable line extensions to the coast of the Russian Arctic and Far East territories and has the cost of $500 million. The third stage will lay the land segment of the cable line as an element of the national optical fiber network in the strategic partnership with Russian oil pipeline monopoly Transneft. It will cost $500 million.
Posted 21 October 2011; 12:21:02 PM. Permalink
Tagged: Circumpolar News, Communications and media, Infrastructure, transportation, Northwest Russia, October11, Russia
New satellite to boost rural internet speeds
(CBC News, 20 October 2011) -- A new satellite launched Wednesday is promising to provide access to higher broadband internet speeds in rural Canada. ViaSat-1, launched aboard a Proton rocket in Kazakhstan on Wednesday afternoon, will be able to support "4G" download speeds of up to 25 megabits per second and provide broadband service to 1.5 million customers in North America, says Xplornet Communications Inc. The company says ViaSat-1 has a capacity greater than all other existing North American broadband satellites combined. Xplornet says it has purchased 100 per cent of the Canadian capacity within a certain range of spectrum for the satellite called the Ka band and will be using that entirely for rural broadband. The Canadian government kicked in $28 million dollars to help the private company expand its rural broadband offerings.
Posted 21 October 2011; 12:15:25 PM. Permalink
Tagged: Canada, Circumpolar News, Communications and media, Infrastructure, transportation, October11
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