Bahrain pushes ahead with Muharraq city redevelopment plan Halliburton wins multi-year Aramco gas development contract Saudi: Kent secures long-term deals with Aramco for future EPC projects Oman and Jordan launch $100mln investment firm Modon, ADIB introduce Abu Dhabi’s first off-plan home financing solutions Abu Dhabi launches maritime investment guide to attract global businesses Saudi Arabia inaugurates over 900km of roads to boost connectivity Gulftainer unveils $2bln global trade infrastructure strategy Saudi Arabia's trade surplus surges 60% to over $24bln in Q1 2026 UAE, Panama discuss boosting trade, investment, supply chains as part of 'UAE Trade Days' Sharjah Chamber registers 30,000 memberships in H1 Saudi tourism spending reaches record $81bln in 2025 Dubai's AMIS breaks ground on Jacob & Co.’s villa community; targets $10bln IPO in three years UAE's new government work model to deploy Agentic AI in public services Indonesia, Kuwait strengthen strategic energy partnership Kuwait unveils framework for 15-year residency for expat investors Riyadh Air takes off on first domestic route to Jeddah Bahrain issues laws to protect investments Qatar's Hamad Port sails into the world's top eight Kuwait air traffic returns to normal, flights resume QatarEnergy announces new oil discovery offshore Namibia UAE developer Alef launches $1.1bln mixed-use development in Sharjah ADNOC eyeing Canada upstream and LNG opportunities via XRG arm, executive says Dubai real estate deals in April surge to $18.7bln Saudi's SAMA mandates advance notification of investment rounds by financing companies Qatar maritime trade activity accelerates in May Oil steadies as uncertainty over US-Iran talks keeps markets on edge Qatar: Relatively hot daytime conditions expected, moderate night Dubai Centre for Family Businesses explores ways to strengthen business adaptability Saudi Crown Prince, UAE President discuss regional security and cooperation

Log in

عربي

Media Centre

Home » Media Centre

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

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

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

Feb 17, 2026

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 project’s backers ‌said, just over a week after the announcement of a Saudi-backed fibre-optic project in Syria.

Gulf neighbours Saudi ​Arabia and the UAE are each trying to tap into demand for connectivity in the region ​and become ​hubs for AI infrastructure, including data centers, amid wider economic and geopolitical competition across the region. 

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.

FIVE-YEAR PROGRAMME

El Ekabi said the ​project would ‌be privately funded ⁠and rolled out in ⁠phases over the next five years. It aims to ease congestion and reduce transit times versus ​the traditional paths that run through the Suez Canal.

The Emirati ‌and Saudi governments did not respond to requests for ⁠comment.

Saudi Arabia and Syria announced on February 7 plans to set up a fibre-optic network under a wider investment package.

That project, dubbed SilkLink, is a roughly $1 billion push to rehabilitate Syria's infrastructure and position it as a data route between Asia and Europe.

In response to a request for comment on the UAE-Iraqi project, the Syrian telecoms ministry told Reuters in a statement: “Additional infrastructure investment improves route diversity and resilience for everyone.”

“SilkLink is designed to deliver low-latency and high- availability ... and we expect to be ‌highly competitive on both performance and resilience,” it said.

Besides Tech ⁠964, WorldLink's sponsors include Iraq-Kurdish DIL Technologies and UAE-based Breeze ​Investments, according to El Ekabi, 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.