Reliance Globalcom, today announced the service launch of the Al-Faw Cable Landing Station (CLS) in Iraq, built in alliance with the Iraqi Telecommunications and Post Company (ITPC).

With this development, Reliance Globalcom is now the first private subsea service provider to activate submarine capacity and directly connect Iraq seamlessly to the countries in Middle East, Asia, Europe and North America. Built with an initial design capacity of 680 Gbps with two diverse routes, Reliance Globalcom has initially lit 50 Gbps on each route in order to cater to the existing market demand. The two diverse routes are integrated into the Falcon network, thereby offering a resilient network.

Mohammed Allawi, the Minister of Communications, said, “This is an extremely important strategic initiative undertaken by ITPC and Reliance Globalcom. This will facilitate the connectivity of all the countries in the Middle East region to Iraq and will also significantly improve the quality and speed as well as the reliability of Iraq’s connectivity to the rest of the world.”

The Al-Faw CLS will connect Iraq to all the key Middle East countries: Oman, Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, UAE, Yemen, and Egypt, through Reliance Globalcom’s Falcon submarine cable. Falcon’s interconnection with FEA ensures further seamless connectivity and diversity to major global destinations on the Reliance Globalcom network including London, New York, Mumbai, Hong Kong, etc.

Considering the low broadband penetration in Iraq, the Falcon landing provides a significant milestone towards establishing direct connectivity from Iraq to the rest of the world, and will help boost the nation’s telecom sector. Consumers can now enjoy better quality in broadband services and higher internet speeds.

Commenting on this milestone, Rory Cole, COO, Reliance Globalcom said, "We are delighted at achieving this historic milestone and being the first private service provider to activate submarine capacity in Iraq. Falcon offers seamless connectivity globally and will help connect Iraq to the rest of the world through the reach of our global network. This opens a new opportunity for MNCs around the world to have a better communication with Iraq and operate from this country.”