Building digital resilience: Qatar, Iraq and the new Gulf–Europe fibre corridor

Qatar’s Ooredoo is working to establish a new data route from the Persian Gulf to Turkiye and Europe through Iraq. On 7th October 2026, its international connectivity arm, OFN, signed an agreement with Iraq’s iQ Networks to acquire several pairs of dark fibre across the country. The route is intended to connect with Ooredoo’s planned Fibre in Gulf (FIG) subsea cable system. The agreement is part of Ooredoo’s wider commitment of more than $500 million to international cable and connectivity projects. That figure covers the broader programme; it is not the stated cost of the Iraq agreement alone.  FIG is planned as a subsea loop connecting Qatar, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iraq. Ooredoo says […]