Gulf Bridge International (GBI) has announced that it has landed a cable in Iraq, the first subsea cable to connect the country. The cable was landed at the Al Faw area, and will connect to The Iraqi Telecommunications and Post Company (ITPC).
GBI says that the cable network, which has a design capacity of 40G, will help to improve broadband penetration in Iraq, which currently is just 3%. Amir Al-Bayati, Deputy of the Iraqi Telecommunications and Post Company said: “The GBI cable is a crucial strategic initiative in the industry of subsea cables today using its impressive infrastructure to directly facilitate the development of all the countries connected to it,”
“This project is especially important to us as it will feed the ever growing hunger for capacity and connect the country to the rest of the world through the Gulf gateway. As an emerging market, Iraq has great development potential which comes as a result of the country’s strategic location. In parallel with other projects the country is embarking on, this cable will facilitate Iraq’s ability to realize its potential contributing not only to the development of the telecommunications sector in Iraq, but to the region as a whole.”
The company is deploying a high capacity, fiber-optic communications cable network, which will connect Qatar, the UAE, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman and Saudi Arabia, with connections to India in the East and Italy in the West.
“GBI is the first subsea cable company owned in the Gulf. We care about the region and are backed by investors who care about the region,” said Ahmed Mekky, Board Member and CEO of GBI. “From a business standpoint, we are excited to connect to a market with such tremendous potential for growth. But beyond this, we are truly pleased to provide industry-leading infrastructure that can contribute to Iraq’s recovery. ICT infrastructure is critical in driving economic and social development by providing greater access to information sharing, economic opportunity and learning.”
