SOUTH CAUCASUS RAILWAY AND GNC ALFA SIGN AN AGREEMENT ON COOPERATION
ArmInfo
2010-03-12 19:01:00
ArmInfo. The South Caucasus Railway (SCR) CJSC and GNC Alfa CJSC have
signed an agreement on cooperation.
The parties have agreed to build a fiber-optical cable along a number
of sections of the Armenian railway, particularly, from Yerevan to
Yeraskh on the border with Azerbaijan, as well as from Sevan to Sotk.
Chief Engineer of the company Sergey Haroutyunyan said that
installation of the communication infrastructure in the specified
directions was not envisaged by the investment program of SCR, however,
as a result of the agreement with GNC, it was taken a decision to
carry out the work in the given sections.
GNC Alfa will lay the cable at its own expense, however, we can provide
them with specialists: the cable will be laid along our supporting
network",- said the chief engineer of SCR. As regards the Sevan-Sotk
(Zod) direction, Haroutyunyan said that transportations from Sotk to
Ararat (of gold ore to the gold recovery plant) make up 40% of the
total volume of domestic transportations of SCR. "It was this section
that lacked high-quality communication, and now we are going to remove
this shortcoming with joint efforts",- said Haroutyunyan. When signing
the agreement, Directors General of SCR Shevket Shaydullin and GNC Alfa
Hayk Faramazyan pointed out the probability of joint service of the
SCR information system (with possible further outsourcing transmission
of these functions to GNC Alfa company) in the joint venture format.
SCR CJSC is the 100% subsidiary of the Russian Railways OJSC. The
company is the concessional manager of the Armenian railway system
in accordance with the agreement signed with the Armenian Government
on 13 Feb 2008. The concession term is 30 years with a right of
prolongation for 10 more years.
GNC-Alfa is a licensed network services operator in Armenia. Our
network is based on Fiber-Optic Cable (FOC) infrastructure and
designed to satisfy growing needs of fixed and mobile operators,
Internet Service Providers and large enterprises in transport network
services and high speed Internet. The Southern Segment of our network
between Yerevan and Armenia-Iran border has been put into operation
in September 2009. The Network is interconnected with the FOC in Iran
having access to the worldwide telecommunications networks.
Construction of the Northern Segment between Yerevan and
Armenia-Georgia border is in progress and is expected to be completed
in Q1 2010. In the North, the Network will be interconnected at least
with two FOC systems in Georgia providing high- capacity transit
services via Armenia. Within Armenia, the Network will be extended
to the main towns of the country.