A consortium from Iraq and the UAE intends to invest $700 million in a subsea and terrestrial data cable that will connect the United Arab Emirates to Turkey through Iraq, according to one of the supporters, shortly after the announcement of a Saudi-funded fiber-optic initiative in Syria.
Gulf neighbors Saudi Arabia and the UAE are competing to meet the demand for connectivity in the region and draw investment into data centers.
The WorldLink project, a collaboration between Iraq and the UAE, entails an undersea cable connecting Fujairah in the UAE to Iraq's Faw peninsula on the Gulf, which will subsequently extend overland northward to the Turkish border, according to Ali El Ekabi, leader of Iraq's Tech 964—one of the three consortium members.
El Ekabi stated that the initiative would receive private funding, require four to five years for completion, and focus on "hyperscalers, global carriers, and AI applications." It seeks to alleviate congestion on current east-west data routes and lower transit durations compared to routes that pass through the Suez Canal.
The foreign ministry of the UAE did not reply to requests for comments.
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This is the second new initiative proposed for the area. On February 7, Saudi Arabia and Syria revealed intentions to establish a fibre-optic network as part of a broader investment initiative.
The initiative was characterized as approximately a $1 billion effort to restore Syria's infrastructure and establish it as a data conduit linking Asia and Europe.
In addition to Tech 964, sponsors of WorldLink include DIL Technologies from Iraq-Kurdistan and Breeze Investments from the UAE, as stated by El Ekabi, son of Iraqi real estate billionaire Namir El Ekabi.
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Iraq, aiming to promote itself as a reliable transit route following years of conflict, initiated a $17 billion "Development Road" project in 2023 to link Faw with Turkey via rail and road.