ArmInfo.Ani Samsonyan, a member of the Armenian parliament from the Bright Armenia faction, applied to the RA Ministry of High Technologies with a request to check the reliability of the information that the Azeri company Neqsol Holding became the owner of 100% of Caucasus Online LLC.
"According to Georgian press reports, Nasib Hasanov from Azerbaijan bought the remaining 51% of Caucasus Online LLC. It is noted that he previously acquired 49% of the company's shares. It is known that this Georgian company provides 85% of Internet traffic in Armenia, 50% in Azerbaijan and 55% in Georgia.
This information caused concern of the Armenian public as the acquisition of a large share of the company by a representative of a hostile state can create problems for Armenia. I applied in writing to the RA Ministry of High Technologies with a request to check the reliability of this information and tell whether there may be a problem with the security of the RA if the information is confirmed ", wrote Samsonyan on her Facebook page.
Earlier, businessformula.ge reported that the owner of Caucasus Online LLC Khvicha Makatsaria sold the remaining 51% of the shares of the company to the Azerbaijani company Neqsol Holding. As a result of the deal, Azerbaijani businessman Nasib Hasanov became 100% owner of the company.
At the same time, the portal writes that this deal was also not coordinated with the Georgian Communications Commission. Accordingly, the commission considers Hasanov to be the illegal owner of <Caucasus Online>. Since 2008, <Caucasus Online> has been the sole owner of a 1200 km long submarine fiber-optic cable, built by Tyco Electronics, which provides transit Internet delivery from Europe to the South Caucasus and the Caspian Sea region. Fiber optic cable is located at the bottom of the Black Sea, which allows direct delivery of high quality Internet from Europe to Asia.
For this very purpose, in 2019 Nasib Hasanov acquired from the owner of <Caucasus Online> Khvicha Makatsaria a 49% stake in International Online Networks LLC. The deal took place offshore, in particular in the British Virgin Islands.
As Business Georgia wrote in August last year, Hasanov initiated an unprecedented project in the South Caucasus. He wants to connect China to Europe via a fiber-optic cable that runs through our region. For this, he is negotiating with Georgia and Kazakhstan. According to the project, the cable, which goes to Georgia from Europe, will pass through Azerbaijan, further along the bottom of the Caspian Sea and connect to the infrastructure in Kazakhstan, thereby connecting Shanghai with Frankfurt, and the South Caucasus will be part of this significant project.
The project runs counter to Russian interests, since China is currently actively using Russia's terrestrial telecommunications infrastructure for its Internet connection with Europe. In addition to China, the trans- Caspian project makes it possible to sell the Internet also in Central Asia and India.