Vodafone Qatar to provide subsea fiber cable landing station for Gulf Bridge International

FEBRUARY 8, 2010 -- Vodafone Qatar, a mobile telecommunications operator in Doha, Qatar, will provide a landing station for a Gulf Bridge International (GBI) fiber optic submarine cable in Qatar.

The GBI Cable System, which will use subsea fiber cable technology, will connect all the countries of the Persian Gulf region, and provide onward connectivity to Europe and Asia, GBI officials say.

Scheduled to launch in 2011 and designed to operate for as long as 25 years, the GBI cable system will connect all the Gulf countries via a core ring, which can re-route traffic thereby increasing resilience.

With a design capacity of as much as 5 terabits per second on certain cable sections, the GBI cable system will have the capability to meet the rapid growth in demand that has been forecast for traffic originating and terminating in Persian Gulf gulf region, GBI officials say.

"We believe that once operational, the GBI cable system will play a key role in facilitating communications and enabling the region to grow both socially and economically," says Ahmed Mekky, chief executive officer of GBI.

For more information contact Gulf Bridge International online at www.gbiinc.com, or Vodafone Qatar at www.vodafone.com.qa.