OREANDA-NEWS. Open Joint Stock Company "MegaFon" ("MegaFon", or the "Company") (LSE: MFON), a leading Russian universal telecommunications operator, has announced the commercial launch of the 8,700 kilometers long main fiber-optic trunk line DREAM. The line will be the optimal route for high-speed data transmission by connecting Europe and Asia.

Organized by MegaFon, the line extends through the territories of Kazakhstan, Russia, Ukraine, Slovakia, Austria, Germany, and was created in cooperation with the foreign companies Kazakhtelecom and Interoute. The end-to-end length of the route is about 8,700 km from Frankfurt-am-Main to the Kazakhstan-China border.

The most optimum selected route (optimal distance) for traffic transit can reduce delay time (round trip delay) between the largest telecommunication facilities in Hong Kong and Frankfurt-am- Main, compared with any other existing trunk lines on the market. This will allow MegaFon's business partners to gain a competitive advantage for its clients: financial institutions, online traders and internet companies will be able to respond more quickly to the changing situation on the market, thanks to the unique route of DREAM.

The most important advantage of the project is higher reliability of the system compared to submarine cables characterized by long interruptions due to external factors. This was achieved through the geographical location of DREAM, which runs from the Kazakhstan/China border to Frankfurt-am-Main on a terrestrial route with low seismic activity.

"The unique geographical position of Russia allows us to offer the market an attractive route for transmission of information. By cooperating with MegaFon, the international telecom operators will be able to utilize the safest and most optimal route to organize the transfer of data for their clients, as well as increase the reliability of their networks. Every year the volume of traffic sent from Europe to Asia, along with the demand for the capacity of communication channels, is steadily growing. Therefore, we view this project as both significant and promising for MegaFon's business", - said MegaFon's General Director, Ivan Tavrin.

“The partnership with MegaFon allowed Kazakhtelecom to enter the transit market to provide circuits to Europe- Southeast Asia direction. At present time, launched route is the shortest land route with optimal latency and troubleshooting time. We hope that working in partnership with MegaFon will allow us to become significant player in the market",- emphasized chief commercial officer of "Kazakhtelecom" JSC Raphael Abykhanov.

"Provision of reliable capacity to Asia is current very important for Europe. Terrestrial routes like DREAM are the ideal solution for development of high-speed circuits between these two parts of the world. The new path, from our point of view, will be alternative solution to the existing transcontinental systems and meet high demand on the market," - points out Renzo Ravaglia, Executive Vice-President, Service provider business, of Interoute.

Trunk line DREAM (Diverse Route for European and Asian Markets) is designed for authorizing the transfer of all types of telecommunication traffic between Europe and Asia. In the first phase of the project, MegaFon is ready to provide its foreign partners with reliable DWDM communication channels at speeds up to 10 Gbit/s, organized by dedicated and specially prepared project paths. The fully constructed system has a potential capacity of up to 8 Tb/s.