Batelco, the leading telecom services provider in Bahrain, will provide a landing station for the new sub-sea cable being installed by Gulf Bridge International, the Middle East’s first privately owned submarine cable operator.

The GBI cable system, which will utilise the latest sub-sea fiber cable technology, will connect all the countries of the Gulf region to each other and provide onward connectivity to Europe and Asia, a statement said.

Gert Rieder, Batelco chief executive Bahrain, said the move will significantly enhance Batelco’s resilience and diversity in providing world-class connectivity for residents of Bahrain with world-wide destinations.

Hamad Al Mannai, GBI’s executive vice chairman, said: “Bahrain has been one of the most liberalised telecom markets in the region and we are glad to conclude this agreement with Batelco and for us to be a partner in the advancement of the overall ICT sector in the Bahrain.”

“This agreement will not only benefit Bahrain but all the countries in the region,” said Ahmed Mekky, GBI’s CEO.

“We believe that increased choice, capacity and competition for international bandwidth are essential for sustained growth in the region. The agreement with Batelco, brings GBI one step closer to delivering all three,” he added.

Batelco has previously invested in 3 international cable systems FLAG, SEA-ME-WE 3 and SEA-ME-WE 4 and a satellite earth station to provide international voice, data and Internet services.

Batelco has also invested in three diverse paths (SFO, FALCON and FOG) to access such international connectivity. Such network resilience and diversity is considered ‘best practice’ in the telecommunications industry globally and has served Bahrain well in the past minimising disruption to telecommunications services over the years.

“Such investment forms part of Batelco’s $1.4 billion outlay toward building Bahrain’s communications infrastructure. The company’s ongoing strategy is to continue investing in new infrastructure and innovative technology for Bahrain and ensure the Kingdom remains the most desirable IT and communications hub across the region,” concluded Rieder.

Scheduled to launch in 2011 and designed to operate for up to 25 years, the GBI cable system, with a design capacity of up to 5 terabits per second on certain cable sections, will connect all the Gulf countries via a core ring, which can re-route traffic thereby increasing resilience. – TradeArabia News Service