The UAE is part of a $700 million plan to lay an internet cable to Türkiye via Iraq, as the network for transferring data across the Middle East becomes more robust — and countries vie to tap growing demand for connectivity. The project, dubbed WorldLink, calls for an undersea cable from the UAE to Iraq’s Faw peninsula on the Gulf, which will then run overland to the Turkish border, Ali El Akabi, head of Iraq’s Tech 964, which is part of the project, told Reuters. The cable is privately funded and will be rolled out in phases over the next five years, according to El Akabi. The aim is to reduce transit times compared to traditional cable routes through the Suez Canal.
The plan follows the announcement of a Saudi-backed fiber-optic project in Syria earlier this month; last week, the world’s largest subsea cable system came ashore in the UAE.