ABU DHABI // Stand by for faster, cheaper broadband: a US$455 million undersea cable from India to Italy via the Gulf and Egypt has been completed, and will go live in weeks.
The cable comes ashore in Fujairah and can be used by du, and regional operators including the Saudi Telecom Company and Vodafone Qatar.
It is being tested and the first internet traffic will be carried in "the coming few weeks", said Gulf Bridge International, one of the companies behind it.
"Once the operators have more capacity, they can offer better speed for the end user," said Mohamed Elagazy, a senior vice president at GBI. "They can drop the prices, and they can offer more capacity, which will definitely affect the speed for the end user."
The cable took three years to build and its capacity of 5.18 terabits is "enough to carry all traffic in the Gulf to the rest of the world and vice versa", said Mr Elagazy.
The Middle East has relatively poor internet provision. The average speed is just 1.63 megabits per second (Mbps), well below the global average of 2.1Mbps, according to a report published in July by internet specialist Akamai Technologies.
In Lebanon, the average speed is just 0.3Mbps. The UAE has the region's fastest broadband connectivity, with an average of 3.92Mbps.
In another move to boost internet speeds, the UAE's telecoms regulator announced plans last month to build an internet exchange.
This would reduce the need for traffic to pass through hubs in locations such as Frankfurt, London and Amsterdam, and so improve connections.
bflanagan@thenational.ae
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
RESULT
Esperance de Tunis 1 Guadalajara 1
(Esperance won 6-5 on penalties)
Esperance: Belaili 38’
Guadalajara: Sandoval 5’
UAE%20v%20West%20Indies
%3Cp%3EFirst%20ODI%20-%20Sunday%2C%20June%204%20%0D%3Cbr%3ESecond%20ODI%20-%20Tuesday%2C%20June%206%20%0D%3Cbr%3EThird%20ODI%20-%20Friday%2C%20June%209%26nbsp%3B%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EMatches%20at%20Sharjah%20Cricket%20Stadium.%20All%20games%20start%20at%204.30pm%0D%3Cbr%3E%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EUAE%20squad%3C%2Fstrong%3E%0D%3Cbr%3EMuhammad%20Waseem%20(captain)%2C%20Aayan%20Khan%2C%20Adithya%20Shetty%2C%20Ali%20Naseer%2C%20Ansh%20Tandon%2C%20Aryansh%20Sharma%2C%20Asif%20Khan%2C%20Basil%20Hameed%2C%20Ethan%20D%E2%80%99Souza%2C%20Fahad%20Nawaz%2C%20Jonathan%20Figy%2C%20Junaid%20Siddique%2C%20Karthik%20Meiyappan%2C%20Lovepreet%20Singh%2C%20Matiullah%2C%20Mohammed%20Faraazuddin%2C%20Muhammad%20Jawadullah%2C%20Rameez%20Shahzad%2C%20Rohan%20Mustafa%2C%20Sanchit%20Sharma%2C%20Vriitya%20Aravind%2C%20Zahoor%20Khan%0D%3C%2Fp%3E%0A