Gulf Bridge International (GBI), a leading fiber optic technologies company, has been recognized in this year’s Capacity Europe Awards as the world’s best Niche/New Player.

The awards which were hosted in Amsterdam, Netherlands, recognise leading telecommunications companies from across the globe.

“By winning this prestigious industry award, the CEO and the team at GBI have shown that they have delivered on their commitment, to our investors, to build a state of the art network in the Gulf region and beyond,” said GBI Chairman Rashid Al Naimi.

“This award pays tribute to GBI’s efforts in 2012 to extend its network, which go above and beyond its original vision to build a cable connecting all the Gulf nations,” said Alex Hawkes, editor of Capacity Magazine.

“The judging panel was highly impressed with the company’s efforts to offer an activated 100G line interface on parts of its subsea cable network, as well as its plans to extend to Africa. I would like to congratulate GBI for winning the Capacity award for best niche/new player.”

“We are truly humbled to receive this recognition, culminating four years of work bringing the Middle East’s highest capacity fiber optic network to life,” said Ahmed Mekky, board member and CEO of GBI.

“Communication is a powerful tool underpinning intellectual and economic growth. Beyond our work, this level of recognition reflects the true significance of enhanced connectivity to a region containing one sixth of the world’s population.”

Activated in February, GBI offers additional much-needed capacity on the first Gulf network ever built in a ring configuration, with routing onwards to Europe, Africa and Asia.

As the region’s first carrier-neutral operator, this secure capacity is available to any operator or ISP, enabling new operators to more easily break into the market, and existing operators to diversify their routing. – TradeArabia News Service