Iraqi-UAE consortium plans $700 million fast data cable network

An Iraqi-Emirati consortium plans a $700 million subsea-and-terrestrial data cable linking the United Arab Emirates to Turkey via Iraq, one of the backers said, just over a week after announcement of a Saudi-backed fibre-optic project in Syria.

Gulf neighbours Saudi Arabia and the UAE are racing to tap ‌into the ⁠demand ⁠for connectivity in the region and to attract investment into data centres.

The Iraqi-UAE ​project, branded WorldLink, would comprise an undersea cable from Fujairah in the UAE ​to Iraq's Faw peninsula on the Gulf which will then run overland north to the Turkish border, Ali El Ekabi, head of ​Iraq's Tech 964 - one of the three members ⁠of the ‌consortium - told Reuters.


El Ekabi said the project would be privately funded, take four to five years to complete ⁠and target "hyperscalers, international carriers, and AI applications". It aims to ease congestion on existing east-west data routes and reduce transit times versus paths that run through the Suez Canal.

The Emirati foreign ministry did not respond to requests for comment.

It is the second such new project planned in the region. Saudi Arabia and Syria announced on February 7 plans to set ‌up a fibre-optic network under a wider investment package. The project was described as a roughly $1 billion push ​to rehabilitate Syria's ​infrastructure and position ⁠it as a data route between Asia and Europe.

Besides Tech 964, WorldLink's sponsors include Iraq-Kurdish DIL Technologies and UAE-based Breeze Investments, according to El Ekabi, who is the son of Iraqi real estate billionaire Namir El Ekabi.

Iraq, which is trying to market itself as a stable transit corridor after decades of conflict, launched a $17 billion "Development Road" rail-and-road plan in 2023 to connect Faw to Turkey.