Beyon, a technology group from Bahrain, has announced the signing of an agreement to develop Khaleej North – an 800 km submarine cable system that will further expand Al Khaleej Cable by connecting Bahrain with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Iraq. This could help meet the rising demand for improved connectivity infrastructure by hyperscalers, enterprises, cloud service providers, and government entities in the Middle East.
While it will be fully owned and operated by Beyon, the new system will be developed in partnership with SubCom, the global subsea cable provider currently delivering Beyon’s Al Khaleej cable system. The signing ceremony and announcement took place during the official visit of His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince and Prime Minister, to the United States of America.
Speaking at the ceremony, Shaikh Abdulla bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, Chairman of Beyon, emphasised that enhancing Bahrain’s connection to global networks through greater speed, capacity, and resilience is crucial for developing a strong digital foundation.
David Coughlan, Chief Executive Officer of SubCom, explained that the expansion of their partnership with Beyon via the Khaleej North initiative demonstrates both organisations’ shared commitment to delivering connectivity solutions in the Middle East that are dependable, scalable, and designed for the future.
This is a significant development in the subsea cable ecosystem in the Middle East, and it could position Bahrain as a strategic digital hub connecting the region to the world through the SEA-ME-WE 6 subsea cable system. Readers would recall that SEA-ME-WE 6 is a 21,700-kilometer high-capacity system, which links Bahrain with 14 other countries across Asia, the Middle East, and Europe.
Some other major subsea cable systems in the region include 2Africa, Asia Africa Europe 1 (AAE1), Gulf Bridge International Cable System (GBICS – MENA), FALCON, FOG, Oman Emirates Gateway (OEG) and many more that connect the region with Europe, South Asia, and Southeast Asia.