Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan Target 2026 Cable Launch

Aida Qurbanli, Operative Information Center
September 26, 2026

Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan are targeting commissioning of their Trans-Caspian fiber-optic link by the end of 2026, following completion of marine installation. A September 26 report by Aida Qurbanli for the Operative Information Center said President Ilham Aliyev had confirmed the year-end commitment for the cable connecting the two countries along the Caspian seabed.

The official September 26 transcript on president.az records Aliyev saying Azerbaijan already has fiber connectivity westward and will inaugurate the undersea connection to Kazakhstan by year-end. He presented the project as part of Azerbaijan's position between Europe and Asia and its digital infrastructure strategy, linking the commissioning commitment to the country's wider connectivity agenda.

Technical details published by AzerTelecom in its official August 6 English release identify a 380-kilometre armored submarine fiber-optic cable running from Sumgayit, Azerbaijan, to Aktau, Kazakhstan. The company said marine installation of the first fiber-optic cable across the Caspian seabed was complete, while coastal integration and terrestrial infrastructure work remained underway ahead of full operation.

AzerTelecom says the system is designed for more than 400 Tbps and forms part of the Digital Silk Way route through Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkiye, Kazakhstan and Bulgaria. That places the Caspian crossing within a broader connectivity route rather than presenting it solely as a bilateral link. Aliyev's remarks similarly framed the cable within Azerbaijan's Europe-Asia positioning and digital infrastructure strategy.

The project is being implemented by AzerTelecom and Kazakhtelecom. CaspiLink identifies itself as their joint venture and describes commercial services including clear-channel bandwidth, IP transit and one-stop end-to-end connectivity. These service descriptions set out the project's commercial scope, alongside the physical subsea infrastructure and the wider Digital Silk Way route described by AzerTelecom.

The confirmed status is that marine installation is complete, with coastal and terrestrial integration still underway. Inauguration and commissioning remain targeted for the end of 2026, consistent with AzerTelecom's schedule for full operation. No more precise confirmed launch date is available. The completion of seabed installation therefore does not mean the system has already entered full commercial operation.

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