Plans for an Iraqi-UAE collaboration $700 million quick data cable network
An Iraqi-Emirati consortium is planning a $700 million subsea-and-terrestrial data cable linking the United Arab Emirates to Turkey via Iraq, one of the project backers said, just over a week after the announcement of a Saudi-backed fibre-optic initiative in Syria.
Gulf neighbours Saudi Arabia and the UAE are competing to capitalise on rising regional demand for digital connectivity and to attract investment into data centres.
The Iraqi-UAE project, branded WorldLink, will include an undersea cable running from Fujairah in the UAE to Iraq’s Faw peninsula on the Gulf, before extending overland northwards to the Turkish border. Ali El Ekabi, head of Tech 964 and one of the three consortium members, told Reuters that the project would be privately funded and is expected to take four to five years to complete.
El Ekabi said the cable will target hyperscalers, international carriers and AI applications. The aim is to ease congestion on existing east-west data routes and reduce transit times compared to traditional pathways that pass through the Suez Canal.
The Emirati foreign ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The announcement comes shortly after Saudi Arabia and Syria unveiled plans on February 7 to establish a fibre-optic network as part of a broader investment package. That project was described as an approximately $1 billion initiative to rehabilitate Syria’s infrastructure and position the country as a digital corridor between Asia and Europe.
In addition to 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, seeking to present itself as a stable transit corridor after decades of conflict, launched a $17 billion “Development Road” rail-and-road project in 2023 aimed at connecting the Faw peninsula to Turkey, further strengthening its ambitions as a regional logistics and connectivity hub.
