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Iraqi-UAE consortium to build $700 million 'WorldLink' fast data cable network
The project 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
- PUBLISHED: Mon 16 Feb 2026, 6:20 PM
- By:
- Reuters
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 the announcement of a Saudi-backed fiber-optic project in Syria.
Gulf neighbors Saudi Arabia and the UAE are racing to tap into the demand for connectivity in the region and to attract investment into data centers.
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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.
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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.
Besides Tech 964, WorldLink's sponsors include Iraqi-Kurdish DIL Technologies and UAE-based Breeze Investments, according to El Ekabi, who is the son of Iraqi real estate billionaire Namir El Ekabi.
It is the second such new project planned in the region. Saudi Arabia and Syria announced on February 7 plans to set up a fiber-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.
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.
