There’s been a flurry of submarine cable deals in Iraq recently, including two contracts announced this week, one with Batelco and the other involving a company called Breeze Investments.
In the latest announcement, Iraq’s Minister of Communications Hiyam Al-Yasiri has reportedly signed a contract to land a new submarine cable in the Southern Al-Faw Peninsula with Bahraini telecoms company Batelco by Beyon.
The contract is Iraq's sixth submarine cable at the Al-Faw station and, the Minister pointed out, by signing this contract, Iraq has entered into submarine and transit cable contracts with all the countries of the Arabian Gulf.
The contract will be executed in late 2026 or early 2027. It reportedly has a large capacity, although precise details were not given. It extends from Singapore, passing through Bahrain and other stations in some Arab countries, ending in Iraq.
But that’s not all. Earlier this week it was reported that the same ministry had signed a contract with UAE-based Breeze Investments to land Iraq's fifth submarine cable at Al-Faw.
The project, carried out in cooperation with the State Company for Communications and Informatics, is described as a strategic step to strengthen Iraq's position as a regional and global hub for data and international communications traffic, linking through Iraq and Turkey to Europe.
Breeze has also been authorised to establish a terrestrial transit network under the name World Link, although there is little available information about either entity.
Iraq’s cable connections with the rest of the world are clearly a strong focus of late. We reported earlier this year that Qatar-based Ooredoo Group had signed a landing party agreement with Iraqi Telecommunications and Post Company (ITPC) to land Ooredoo’s planned Fibre in Gulf (FIG) subsea cable in Iraq.
The FIG cable aims to connect all six countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council – Qatar, Oman, the UAE, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait – and Iraq with 720 Tbps of capacity across 24 fibre pairs.
There’s been a flurry of submarine cable deals in Iraq recently, including two contracts announced this week, one with Batelco and the other involving a company called Breeze Investments.
In the latest announcement, Iraq’s Minister of Communications Hiyam Al-Yasiri has reportedly signed a contract to land a new submarine cable in the Southern Al-Faw Peninsula with Bahraini telecoms company Batelco by Beyon.
The contract is Iraq's sixth submarine cable at the Al-Faw station and, the Minister pointed out, by signing this contract, Iraq has entered into submarine and transit cable contracts with all the countries of the Arabian Gulf.
The contract will be executed in late 2026 or early 2027. It reportedly has a large capacity, although precise details were not given. It extends from Singapore, passing through Bahrain and other stations in some Arab countries, ending in Iraq.
But that’s not all. Earlier this week it was reported that the same ministry had signed a contract with UAE-based Breeze Investments to land Iraq's fifth submarine cable at Al-Faw.
The project, carried out in cooperation with the State Company for Communications and Informatics, is described as a strategic step to strengthen Iraq's position as a regional and global hub for data and international communications traffic, linking through Iraq and Turkey to Europe.
Breeze has also been authorised to establish a terrestrial transit network under the name World Link, although there is little available information about either entity.
Iraq’s cable connections with the rest of the world are clearly a strong focus of late. We reported earlier this year that Qatar-based Ooredoo Group had signed a landing party agreement with Iraqi Telecommunications and Post Company (ITPC) to land Ooredoo’s planned Fibre in Gulf (FIG) subsea cable in Iraq.
The FIG cable aims to connect all six countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council – Qatar, Oman, the UAE, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait – and Iraq with 720 Tbps of capacity across 24 fibre pairs.
