The name Kolyma conjures three things above all: Road of Bones, Gulag death camps, and remoteness

By The Siberian Times reporter

08 September 2013

Countless political prisoners perished here cut off from the world - but today Kolyma finally is getting connected.

Sea of Okhotsk shore in Magadan. Picture: Alexander Lesnyanskiy

It will switch on to high speed internet connection next year thanks to a cable, partly under the Sea of Okhotsk, linking this sprawling area to Sakhalin and Khabarovsk. The move will increase the internet speed here by 1,000 times.

The revolution in internet for residents of Magadan and other settlements will be in place by late 2014 after the go ahead from Russia's Minister of Communications Nikolai Nikiforov and the chiefs of Rostelekom. Currently, says blogger Igor Tsykunov, quoted on vesti.ru , it takes 'ages to upload' a single email and people in the rest of Russia 'laugh' at the low speeds locals have to endure.

Businesses will benefits as well as domestic users. It will open up state services by internet, as well as private business development and web television.

The undersea link of 1,000 km is seen as the most complicated part of the development which was planned several years ago but only now being implemented.

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For Siberian Times readers who wish to see more photographs, there are many of the general region of Kolyma - Magadan, Sea of Okhotsk, on Google Maps (http://goo.gl/maps/zzrl1) and on Yandex Maps (http://maps.yandex.ru/-/CVbBbQON)

John Newcomb, Victoria, Canada

13/09/2013 07:36

agree with Ted, would like to see more pictures - and in fact more of other places you write about. I've only discovered your newspaper now, and want to say well done for delivering such a good quality product on Siberia, but many areas of the region you don't cover as well as others

Stewart, Kent

10/09/2013 18:55

Interesting story. My grandpa survived a camp there. I'm intrigued by your picture. Can you show more photos of this region sometime? I guess as well as getting connected it's quite beautiful scenery contrary to it's stereotype. I'd love to see more images from Alexander Lesnyankiy or others. Thank you.

Ted, Ottawa

08/09/2013 11:40