Submarine Cable Operator GBI successfully enters Saudi Market
Gulf Bridge International (GBI), the region's first privately owned submarine cable operator, today announced that it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Riyadh-based telecommunications company Integrated Telecom Company (ITC) to connect the Saudi market to the Gulf region and to the world via GBI's advanced, reliable and scalable network of submarine cables. GBI network connects its Gulf ring to the world through 2 international connectivity routes to the East to India & far east and to the West to Italy & Europe.
The collaboration between the two companies will enable ITC to cater for its customers' ever increasing demand on international data communications services in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and backed by GBI's advanced "Self Healing Ring System", ITC will be able to offer an unprecedented level of reliability to its customers.
Commenting on the partnership, Mr. Ahmed Mekky, CEO of Gulf Bridge International, said: "GBI's project to construct a submarine cable infrastructure around the Gulf, will provide physical route diversity and improve resilience. The project will significantly increase the available data capacity in the region while encouraging a greater sophistication of service offerings and is particularly important for major telecoms operators like Integrated Telecom Company (ITC) as it will provide reliability for its customers by spreading traffic across more than one system, which will significantly improve the service resilience against any potential disruptions."
"A fundamental shift is occurring in the ICT sector and the Gulf nations are experiencing an enormous demand for information services and data communications," explained Mr. Mohammad Al-Bader, CEO of Integrated Telecom Company. "Our mission at ITC is to develop and improve the underlying infrastructure to provide the region's operators with a better, faster and more cost-effective service. The new GBI cable will address these growing demands while bringing the Gulf communities closer. The GBI cable is a key project that will have a strong and positive impact on the region's telecom industry."
ITC is currently embarking on a fiber optic backbone project that spreads over 12,500 km covering 19 main cities and offers an initial huge capacity amounting to 40 Gbps. The project involving two cable landing stations in Al-Khobar and Jeddah will link hundreds of kilometers of fiber optic rings inside the major cities, with the base stations and towers providing wireless broadband last mile connectivity with the latest wireless broadband technology WiMax.
This latest announcement by GBI is part of a world class project to construct an international submarine cable infrastructure to be operational by 2011. The GCC-based and privately owned submarine cable operator, GBI is backed by a host of prestigious world class names and experts in the submarine telecommunications networks.All companies that rely on real time transactions such as telecom operators, banks, insurance companies, media, educational institutions, airlines, and other businesses, will benefit from GBI's project.
The relationship between GBI and ITC is highly synergistic as GBI will adhere to its envisaged role as the "Carriers' Carrier", working specifically on the wholesale level. The GBI network will maintain its "Non-Competition" policy by focusing on enabling its clients, mainly licensed operators around the region, to offer reliable services to their clients with higher quality and lower cost.
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About GBI
Gulf Bridge International (GBI) is a new company dedicated to connecting all the nations of the Gulf to one another and to the rest of the world East and West, using the latest fiber optic technologies. The GBI network will be developed and owned by GCC strategic investors who are building strategic infrastructure to serve the entire region. GBI is first in the region to adapt the latest technology from the industry leader in undersea networking.
About ITC
Integrated Telecom Company (ITC) is a Riyadh-based Saudi company established in 2005 through a consortium of local investors headed by Al-Mawarid Investment Group as a major shareholder. ITC was awarded a license by the Communication & Information Technology Commission (CITC) to provide local, national, and international data communications services.
Media Contact:
Rachel Watts
The Portsmouth Group
Tel: +971 4 369 3572
rachel.watts@theportsmouthgroup.com
© Press Release 2009
