Once operational, the cable system will enhance the data exchange capabilities of the Kingdom of Bahrain. Al Khaleej will branch from the SEA-ME-WE 6 cable, a 21,700km subsea cable system which connects Bahrain with 14 other countries and will help to diversify routes and augment international connectivity for the region.
“We are delighted to partner with SubCom, a global leader in the design, manufacture, and implementation of fibre optic cables, to build the Al Khaleej Cable. The 1,400km long Al Khaleej Cable, which will connect Bahrain to regional countries including Qatar, UAE and Oman, will substantially boost Batelco’s capabilities and strengthen regional connectivity,” said Hani Askar, chief global business officer, Batelco.
“A robust connectivity infrastructure is central to the growth of a digital economy and our investment in the SEA-ME-WE 6 and Al Khaleej Cable systems, along with our existing international infrastructure, will further enhance the diversity, resilience and latency of our network systems.”
The SEA-ME-WE 6 cable system will have a design capacity of more than 100Tbps. The new subsea cable branch will create a layer of network diversity and resilience for the heavily used routes connecting the Middle East towards Europe and Asia.
“Our congratulations to Batelco on the launch of the Al Khaleej regional cable system,” said Benoit Duguet, project manager at SubCom.
“Our organisation is already at work manufacturing the cable and equipment necessary to complete one of the more extensive cable projects ever commissioned. We are grateful to the entire SEA-ME-WE 6 consortium for entrusting SubCom with this critical project, and to Batelco in particular, for giving us the opportunity to build a branch that will have such a positive impact on the region’s connectivity.”
The entire cable and the equipment related to SEA-ME-WE 6 and Al Khaleej will be manufactured by SubCom at its campus in Newington, New Hampshire, in the US.
Once completed, the cable and equipment for both the SEA-ME-WE 6 and Al Khaleej Cable systems will be loaded onto SubCom’s Reliance Class cable ships for deployment.
The SEA-ME-WE 6 subsea cable connectivity to Bahrain and Al Khaleej Cable are due to be completed by the second quarter of 2026.
