An EU-funded project for the development of telecommunications infrastructure at the Belarus-Lithuania border (BOMBEL-4), was officially launched in Minsk on 6 September. 

The €3.7 million project is a follow-up to the BOMBEL-3 project (2009-2011), which enabled the Belarus Border Service to create a modern communications and data transfer system along the Belarusian-Polish border.

By providing technical assistance with the telecommunications network development, using state-of-the-art technology based on the use of high-capacity fibre-optic communication lines, BOMBEL-4 makes a substantial contribution to improvement of the border service management along the Belarusian-Lithuanian border.

The fibre-optic communication lines to be built are almost 400 kilometres long in total, with about 50 posts. All the work will be completed within 24 months. 

BOMBEL-4 provides for a deep upgrade of the border service telecommunications infrastructure along the Belarusian-Lithuanian border, which will allow building a reliable high-speed network, enabling the use of all the latest telecommunication services for border protection, and creating conditions for the development of an integrated border management system applying the latest technological solutions.

Major General Igor Pechen, deputy chair of the State Border Committee of Belarus, said the project was the largest EU-implemented project aimed at building telecommunication infrastructure in Belarus – both in terms of its technical design, construction period and cost, and its scale. 

The Project Manager of the EU Delegation to Belarus, Outa Hermalahti said: “This cooperation allows as to ensure well-functioning borders. They are safe, closed to illegal activities, and at the same time open to law-abiding citizens. It is highly important, because we, Belarus and the EU, are neighbours, and these borders are making us closer, rather than apart from each other.”

Press release