Evolution of a premium route at the heart of the Middle East

Interview with Veer Passi, Group CEO at Kalaam Telecom

How do you view Iraq’s communications market and the key trends happening there?

Iraq remains a largely untapped communications market. However, it is now at a pivotal inflection point. One of the key drivers has been the series of submarine cable disruptions in the Red Sea over the past two years, which has highlighted the urgent need for stable, resilient terrestrial alternatives.

As a response, Iraq has started putting an emphasis on the governance and regulatory frameworks needed to open up networks to other markets. Telecom ministers and delegates from the regulator are also present at more forums and meetings. As a result, the nation’s digital adoption, data consumption and fintech sector are growing.

At the same time, significant volumes of traffic continue to flow between East and West, reinforcing the Gulf’s role as a critical global transit zone. Iraq’s geographic positioning offers clear latency advantages, particularly given its direct border with Turkey as a gateway into Europe. This combination positions Iraq strongly to evolve into a mature regional hub capable of delivering a high-quality, carrier-grade experience.

Do many challenges remain in Iraq to further mainstreaming digital adoption?

Overcoming licensing complexities is a critical step towards enabling a resilient, diverse national infrastructure with multiple routes traversing the country. By working in closer partnership, regulators and telecom operators can unlock faster development, greater investment confidence and long-term stability. This alignment is fundamental to Iraq’s ambition to emerge as a strategic regional transit hub, connecting markets and powering digital growth across the region.

Encouragingly, the market is steadily opening up under a national vision that positions Iraq as a credible terrestrial corridor. New fibre deployments, hyperscaler data centre investments, expanded power availability and additional routing options all point to a strong pipeline of growth. Once this infrastructure is fully operational, adoption is expected to accelerate rapidly.

The increasing number of international cable systems landing in Iraq further reinforces this momentum. With sustained alignment among all stakeholders, Iraq has the potential to establish itself as a premium connectivity route within the next few years.

Can you briefly describe the history of the Kalaam Iraq Transit route and what it has achieved in its first 18 months?

Kalaam is recognised for simplifying connectivity across the MENA region. In 2020, we launched the Kalaam Network Optical Transit [KNOT] cable system — a fully terrestrial network spanning the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait.

Reaching Kuwait marked a significant milestone, but it was not the end of the journey. As Iraq accelerated its market liberalisation, we entered into a landmark agreement with the national telecoms regulator to develop the Kalaam Iraq Transit route in August 2024.

Through this initiative, we became the first operator to offer a fully terrestrial connectivity path from the GCC to Frankfurt, Germany, providing a shorter-latency alternative route into Europe. This was a major step towards our objective of delivering a carrier-grade, highly available terrestrial corridor that ensures uninterrupted connectivity between multiple continents.

During the first six months, adoption progressed steadily as we focused on building market awareness through extensive proofs of concept. Today, the route has gained strong traction, with close to 0.5Tbps of capacity live and a clear trajectory to exceed 1Tbps within the year.

Looking ahead to 2026, we expect the network to be a major success, serving customers with stringent risk, redundancy and resilience requirements.

What do you hope will be the legacy of the route in the long term, when it comes to contributing to Iraq’s digital future and role in the international communications industry?

Over the long term, the route has the potential to position Iraq as a highly strategic digital bridge connecting East and West. It will play a critical role in supporting cloud adoption and attracting increased foreign investment into the country.

As government stakeholders increasingly adopt digital-first strategies, this will further stimulate growth across the local communications ecosystem.

For Iraq’s digital economy, the route represents a pathway to long-term resilience – provided that the challenges outlined are addressed and the network is treated as a foundational pillar of the country’s digital future.

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Partner content: Kalaam Telecom