The Deal Architecture: A Two-Pronged Connectivity Strategy

Two complementary agreements executed by OFN, the international connectivity infrastructure division of Ooredoo Group, form the backbone of the Iraq Transit Corridor initiative:

  • Terrestrial Dark Fibre Agreement with iQ Networks: Grants overland transit rights across Iraq through iQ Networks' transcontinental fiber-optic infrastructure. The wholesale dark fibre model enables telecom operators and hyperscalers to lease unlit optical fiber and maintain complete control over terminal equipment, security protocols, and capacity expansion.
  • Subsea Landing Partnership with ITPC: A formal arrangement with the Iraqi Telecommunications and Post Company, the state-owned telecom authority, to land the FIG Subsea Cable System on Iraqi territory.

Together, these agreements connect a major subsea optical loop in the Arabian Gulf to a terrestrial express corridor extending northward through Türkiye and into Europe.

Core Asset Specifications: The FIG Subsea Cable

The FIG network serves as the subsea foundation of this arrangement and is engineered to deliver the region's highest-capacity system.

Strategic & Geopolitical Assessment

Bypassing the Red Sea / Egypt Chokepoint

Historically, data flows connecting Asia, the Middle East, and Europe have depended almost exclusively on the Red Sea and Suez Canal—a single corridor burdened by expensive Egyptian transit tolls, maritime hazards from anchor drags, and significant geopolitical vulnerabilities. The Iraq Transit Corridor functions as a pressure relief mechanism. By bringing FIG ashore in Iraq and leveraging iQ Networks' terrestrial backhaul capacity, Ooredoo establishes a geographically independent, overland "express route" northward via Türkiye, delivering critical route redundancy and improved resilience for international data movement.

Empowering the AI & Hyperscaler Ecosystem

The rapid expansion of AI workloads and multi-gigawatt cloud infrastructure across the Middle East—particularly in the UAE, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia—demands scalable and dependable bandwidth. Dark fibre delivery, as opposed to conventional managed lit wavelengths, permits hyperscalers including Meta, AWS, Google, and OpenAI to install their own coherent transponders. This arrangement gives them the ability to handle their multi-petabyte data volumes and AI model checkpoint transfers independently, without artificial capacity limitations imposed by incumbent telecom providers.

Elevating Iraq's Sovereign Digital Position

The partnership reshapes Iraq's role within the international telecommunications ecosystem. Rather than functioning as a peripheral digital endpoint, Iraq is positioning itself as a primary regional transit hub by capitalizing on its geographic advantages. The infrastructure enables Iraq to realize substantial economic returns from the enormous international data flows traversing its airspace and territory.

Outlook

The partnership among OFN, iQ Networks, and ITPC marks a significant restructuring of digital infrastructure across the Middle East. By joining the FIG Gulf loop's 720 Tbps capacity with a secure terrestrial corridor spanning Iraq, Ooredoo Group is establishing the critical infrastructure foundation needed to support the coming decade of AI, cloud, and data center expansion throughout the Eastern Hemisphere.