GBI

The Gulf Bridge International Cable System (GBI Cable System, or GBICS) is a private submarine cable system connecting the Gulf countries together and provide onward connectivity to the rest of the world.

The GBI Cable System is privately owned by Gulf Bridge International, established in Qatar in December 2008 with an initial investment of $445 million.

The GBI Cable System is designed with a self-healing core ring in the Gulf, with double cable landings at the major terminals of Qatar and Fujairah (UAE) and branched landings in Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, Oman, and onward connectivity to landing in India and Europe as well.

Gulf Bridge International contracts with the following partners as landing parties in corresponding countries:

Omantel, Oman
du, UAE,
Batelco, Bahrain
Vodafone Qatar, Qatar
Ooredoo(formerly Qtel), Qatar
Kuwait Ministry of Communications, Kuwait
Saudi Telecom Corporation (STC), Saudi Arabia
Telecommunication Infrastructure Company of I.R.Iran (TIC), Iran
Iraq Telecommunications & Post Company (ITPC) , Iraq.
Sify Technologies Limited, India

The GBI Cable System is the first submarine cable landing in Iraq, at the cable landing station in Al Faw, partnered with the state-owned Iraq Telecommunications & Post Company (ITPC). GBI cable network reaches Europe through Al Faw and terrestrial cables across Iraq and Turkey.

Gulf Bridge International contracts with Telecommunication Infrastructure Company of I.R.Iran (TIC) to land the GBI cable in Iran, with onward connectivity to many central Asian countries including Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Azarbaijan, Armenia, Turkey and European nations.

The GBI cable system lands at:

The GBI Cable System was launched in Feb. 2012 with intra-regional connetivity in Gulf, and late 2014 for the whole system.

Gulf Bridge International partners with the MENA Submarine Cable System to provide on connectivity from Oman to India and Western Europe across Egypt. GBI owns the GBI Cable System towards India and has provided one fiber pair of the two to MENA. MENA Submarine Cable System owns the MENA cable towards Egypt/Italy and has provided one fiber of the two to GBI. The MENA submarine cable system was delayed due to permitting issues in Egypt, was not completed until November 2014 after purchasing terrestrial fiber pairs IRU from Telecom Egypt to connect Zaarafana cable landing station and the Abu Talat cable landing station. The MENA cable was acquired by Telecom Egypt in 2018.

GBI/MENA cable landing station in Mumbai is owned and operated by Sify Technologies Limited. In March 2018, Bharti Airtel acquired huge capacity on GBI Cable System between Mumbai to Milan and its upgrade rights.

GBI also extended its IP network in 2016, to connect to Singapore, Datamena, Smarthub, Frankfurt, London and Amsterdam.

GBI also acquired a stake in BBG extending its reach into Asia.