A group of the Russian research institutes has completed a study to determine the feasibility of laying fibre optic cables across the Baring Sea – and doing it not with a cable-laying ship but instead using submarines. The work started in 1994 and was carried out by a group comprising designers from the Svyazmorproyekt bureau, the Central Scientific Research Institute of Communications (TsNIIS), the Malakhit Bureau of Marine Engineering and the Rubin Bureau of Marine Technology. According to Yury Alexeyev, deputy general director of TsNIIS, the estimated cost of the laying is about $115m. He estimates maintenance expenses at about $1.6m a year, or 0.025% of the profits of the average line._World Finance & Businessgram_
