Trans-Caspian corridor, part 2: the landing points and the links beyond them

The documents behind the Trans-Caspian fibre-optic line name its two ends but not the buildings where it comes ashore. The line runs between Sumgayit in Azerbaijan and Aktau in Kazakhstan, according to the Azerbaijani presidency's account of the 15 October inauguration. Neither the Kazakh presidency's release on the launch nor the Kazakh government's release of 5 August names a landing station. In August the government said the cable was being connected to coastal infrastructure and that onshore works, commissioning and testing were due to be completed in the autumn. Part 1 of this series followed the route under the sea. Part 2 looks at what is documented at each end, and at the exits west of the Caspian.

Aktau: a backbone still being built

On the Kazakh shore the cable meets a domestic network that is itself unfinished. The government said on 6 October that half of the 4,511 km West-East line had been laid and that it aimed to commission the line before the end of the year, according to its summary of a government session. When the project was announced in February 2025, Silk Way TV reported that the line would follow a China to Aktau route, "serving as an alternative part of the Western Europe - Southeast Asia global transport network".

The capacity figures on this side come from the digital ministry by way of the press. The West-East backbone is designed for at least 12 Tbit/s and the Caspian line will add capacity of up to 6 Tbit/s, The Times of Central Asia reported on 13 October; the same outlet put Kazakhstan's international internet capacity at about 11.1 Tbit/s in 2024. The ministry estimates that the new route could help more than double the country's international data transit to 21.6 Tbit/s, the outlet reported after the launch. The 6 October summary gives no route by city and no capacity for the West-East line, and none of the documents reviewed says how much of its capacity is reserved for traffic arriving from the Caspian.

Sumgayit: the landing that moved

The Azerbaijani end has changed since the crossing was first designed. In 2023 the operators described a main route to Siyazan and a reserve route from Kuryk to Buzovna, near Baku, Capacity reported. By February 2025 the Azerbaijani landing was given as Sumgayit, in the Silk Way TV report. The line on both shores belongs to CaspiLink B.V., a joint venture of Kazakhtelecom and AzerTelecom International that is responsible for its construction and operation, according to the 5 August release. A separate line proposed from Turkmenbashi would land at Siyazan, further north on the same coast, according to Turkmenistan's investment portal; no construction start has been published.

West of Sumgayit: three ways out of Georgia

The Azerbaijani presidency sets out the onward path in one sentence: the route will allow data from China and Central Asia to be transmitted to Europe "via Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Georgia, and onward through the Black Sea or Türkiye", according to its account. The documents reviewed do not describe the terrestrial route from Sumgayit to the Georgian border, the crossing point or the operator that would carry the traffic. On the Georgian coast, three subsea options appear in the public record.

• In service: the Caucasus Cable System, about 1,200 km from Poti to Balchik in Bulgaria, owned by Caucasus Online and in service since 2008. Its latest published lit capacity, 780 Gbit/s after an upgrade in 2016, is ten years old, according to Ocean News and Technology.
• Planned: Kardesa, which Vodafone Group and Vodafone Ukraine plan to land in Bulgaria, Türkiye, Georgia and Ukraine with more than 500 Tbit/s. The first landing, in Bulgaria, is planned for 2027, with the others to follow; the announcement gives no Georgian landing site or date.
• Proposed: the Black Sea Submarine Cable, a power link of about 1,155 km from Anaklia to Topraisar near Constanța in Romania that includes a fibre link estimated at USD 70 million to 90 million. It moved into preparation for a seabed survey at the end of July and has no final investment decision, oEnergetice reported.

The Türkiye option runs overland from Georgia, and no document reviewed sets out its route or its operators.

Read together, the documents establish two coastal end points and a joint venture that owns the crossing, but not the stations, the backhaul behind them or the onward capacity. On the Kazakh side the backhaul is under construction with a year-end target. On the Azerbaijani side the path to Georgia is not described. In Georgia the only subsea system in service has no lit capacity figure newer than 2016, and the two new systems have no Georgian landing date. Part 3 looks at the operators and how capacity on the Caspian segment will be sold.