Gulf Bridge International (GBI), the newly established submarine cable operator in the region, has signed an deal with TIC, the sole provider of telecommunication infrastructure in Iran, to land its submarine telecom cable in the Islamic republic.

TIC is also the sole responsible party for all international gateways and IP capacity and connectivity services in the country.

The GBI cable network was planned to connect Iran with the Gulf region and the rest of the world, via a reliable, high capacity submarine fiber optic cable linking the region to India and the Far East via the East Route and to Europe via the West Route.

The landing party agreement will facilitate onward connectivity to many central Asian countries including Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Azarbaijan, Armenia and Turkey, said a top official.

Commenting on the agreement, Hamad Almannai, GBI's executive vice chairman said 'Landing our cable in Iran is part of GBI's plan and full commitment toward connecting the Gulf to the whole world with a reliable cable infrastructure.'

Mahmoud Khosravi, TIC managing director and member of the board said 'TIC is happy to land GBICS in Iran which will be a great addition and expansion to Iran’s international connectivity.'

'Designed to operate for 25 years and enter service in 2011, the GBI’s cable will exploit the commercial opportunity provided by the increasing demand for reliable high-speed telecommunications capacity in the Gulf region,' he added.

In order to achieve this, GBI’s cable is designed to meet all current and anticipated future capacity demands across the Gulf Region, incorporating a design capacity of 5 Terabits per second on certain cable sections, Khosravi stated.

GBI is a private company dedicated to connecting all the nations of the Gulf region to one another and to the rest of the world, using the latest fiber optic technologies. The cable will be developed and owned by GCC investors who are building this strategic infrastructure to serve the entire region. -TradeArabia News Service