🌐 Iraqi-UAE Consortium Plans $700M Cable to Rival Saudi Project

An Iraqi-Emirati consortium has announced plans for a $700 million subsea-and-terrestrial data cable linking the United Arab Emirates to Turkey via Iraq, intensifying competition among Gulf nations to become regional hubs for artificial intelligence and digital infrastructure.

The 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, told Reuters. El Ekabi said the project would be privately funded and take four to five years to complete.