GBI inks cable landing deal with Omantel

Middle Eastern submarine cable operator Gulf Bridge International (GBI) has announced the signing of an agreement with telecoms company Omantel to provide a landing station for its cable system in Oman, which when completed will connect all the Gulf countries to each other and provide onward connectivity to Europe and Asia. The deal forms the latest in a series of Landing Party Agreements (LPA) that the Qatar-based cable company has signed this year with various telecoms operators, including Iraq Telecommunications and Post Company (IPTC) in January and Qatar Telecom (Qtel) earlier this month. ‘Oman’s location at the entrance to the Gulf, where the majority of international subsea cables meet, is strategically important to GBI as it allows GBI easy access to both Asia and Europe,’ noted Ahmed Mekky, board member and CEO of GBI, adding, ‘We are forecasting tremendous growth in regional traffic to and from the Gulf and this agreement will ensure we can provide onward connectivity for our customers both eastwards and westwards.’ Scheduled to launch in 2011 and designed to operate for up to 25 years, the GBI Cable System will have a design capacity of up to 5Tbps on certain sections.