Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are working to lessen their digital reliance on Russia while shifting their economic focus more toward the West. As part of this effort, the two countries are advancing a plan to lay a fiber-optic cable under the Caspian Sea to establish a direct connection with Azerbaijan.
At present, virtually all Kazakhstan’s and Uzbekistan’s Internet traffic passes through Russian-controlled systems, The Caspian Post reports citing Eurasianet.
Uzbekistan’s Internet connections to the outside world even must pass through Kazakhstan before reaching Russia, where the Kremlin has significantly tightened its control over internet traffic since launching its unprovoked attack on Ukraine in 2022. Kazakhstan already has two fiber-optic cable connections with Chinese networks, but Kazakh authorities are reportedly hesitant to expand in that direction, given China’s well-known reputation for monitoring and controlling the flow of digital information.
Uzbekistan apparently is engaging a Saudi-based firm, DataVolt, to help build out a fiber-optic connection. In comments broadcast October 21 on a state-controlled television channel, DataVolt CEO Rajit Nanda described the cable project as vital for the country’s economic modernization program. He added that DataVolt was striving to forge partnerships with American tech giants, such as Oracle and Amazon, to expand Uzbekistan’s digital economy.
“It's important for us to create alternative [data transmission] routes,” he said, adding that a trans-Caspian fiber-optic line was of “strategic and economic importance for Uzbekistan,” offering “limitless potential.”
The project “will not only ensure secure communications but can also generate multi-billion-dollar benefits,” Nanda added. He did not provide details on when or how Uzbekistan would plug into a pending undersea fiber-optic line that will connect Kazakhstan to Azerbaijan. The three countries are also collaborating on an ambitious plan to lay a power-transmission line beneath the Caspian.
Azerbaijani leader Ilham Aliyev, in an interview published by the Kazinfom news agency ahead of his October 21 visit to Astana, described a trans-Caspian digital connection as a “significant infrastructure project,” indicating it will provide a major boost for development of the US- and European Union-backed Middle Corridor trade network.
“Transport and logistics cooperation between Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan is a strategically important area, opening up new opportunities for economic growth and the integration of regional markets,” Aliyev said. “The Middle Corridor plays a key role in ensuring sustainable and efficient communications between our countries.”
Aliyev went on to say that construction of the undersea cable between Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan is proceeding under an agreement signed this past spring. The project is scheduled for completion in late 2026.
In Astana, Aliyev and Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev toured an artificial intelligence lab, where they were briefed on an initiative to use an AI application to assist in the laying of the fiber-optic line along the Caspian seabed.
Tokayev made special reference to the fiber-optic cable project in a statement issued following his formal talks with Aliyev. “We underlined the importance of accelerating projects to lay a Caspian subsea fiber-optic communication line,” adding that relevant government officials “have been instructed to make sure that it is completed as soon as possible.”
Tokayev indicated that the fiber-optic connection with Azerbaijan was a foundational element of his blueprint to ensure Kazakhstan’s future economic competitiveness, as outlined in his early September state-of-the-nation address.
“Given the rapid development of artificial intelligence, vast opportunities are emerging in the IT sector,” the October 21 presidential statement noted. “Kazakhstan has gained experience in the digitalization of public services and the development of IT technologies, and we are ready to implement joint projects in this area.”
