Iraqi telecommunications provider iQ Networks and Ooredoo Fibre Networks (OFN), the connectivity arm of the Qatari multinational telecommunications firm Ooredoo Group, have agreed to extend the path of traffic passing through a planned subsea cable to run overland through Iraq, subject to regulatory approval.

If built, the resulting connection will facilitate high-speed Internet traffic between the Gulf region and Asia, Turkey and Europe through Iraq. DCD has approached iQ Networks and OFN for comment.

“The sheer scale of this collaboration with OFN reinforces Iraq’s position as a key gateway for international connectivity,” said the group CEO of iQ Networks’ parent company, iQ Group, Asoz Rashid, in a joint statement with the Ooredoo Group.

“By combining Iraq’s strategic location and iQ’s leading terrestrial infrastructure with the scale of the FIG subsea system, we have an opportunity to establish the primary route linking Asia, the Gulf and Europe.”

The agreement will see OFN buy unlit fiber strands, known as ‘dark fiber’, from iQ Networks to facilitate the extension of traffic from its Fibre in the Gulf (FIG) subsea cable on Iraq’s southern coast overland toward the country’s border with Turkey. The deal builds on a previous landing arrangement signed in 2025 by OFN and the Iraqi Telecommunications and Post Company to facilitate FIG’s landing on Iraq’s southern coast.

The connection, which will support up to 720Tbps of traffic along 24 fiber pairs, will serve Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iraq.

OFN’s parent company, Ooredoo Group, operates across nine markets and serves nearly 150 million customers. iQ Networks, meanwhile, is an arm of the iQ Group, which claims to run 7,456 miles (12,000km) of fiber in Iraq as part of its Silk Route Transit Project as well as several data centers.

According to analysis by Submarine Networks, the deal between the two firms will strengthen Iraq’s position as a telecommunications hub by providing an alternative to subsea cables positioned in the Red Sea, which has been plagued in recent years by severed connections and transit fees imposed by Egypt.

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