Ministry of Telecommunications and Telekom signed lease contract for 4,000 kilometers of optical cables - SEElight to connect educational and research institutions

Serbian Ministry of Telecommunications and IT Society signed on Friday, November 19, a lease contract with Telekom Srbija for 4,000 kilometers of optical cables for the SEElight project, which is aimed at connecting educational and scientific institutions in Southeast Europe.

- The value of the contract is 3.8 million euros, and optical cables for the needs of the educational community are rented for the period of 15 years - Minister of Telecommunications Jasna Matic said at the press conference in the Government of Serbia.

She pointed out that the result would be the establishment of an educational communication network in Serbia that would connect over 180 scientific and research institutions and 50 cities, and it would also help their connecting with the academic network of neighboring countries.

- Rental of optical cables will enhance the quality of education in Serbia - said Ms. Matic and added that the SEElight project was mainly financed from the Hellenic Plan.

Another contract on procurement of network equipment worth 2 million euros needs to be signed to enable implementation of that project. The Minister of Telecommunications' estimates are that the contract will be signed in February 2011.

Secretary General for International Economic Relations in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Greece Constandinos Papadopoulos said that, in addition to Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria and Macedonia were also included in the SEElight project.

A total value of the project is 19.8 million euros, 16m of which are provided by Greece from the Hellenic Plan.

Papadopoulos emphasized that that project would provide necessary infrastructure for closing the digital gap between the countries of Southeast Europe and developed European countries.