Ooredoo, a Middle East-based international provider of telecommunications and digital infrastructure, has partnered with DE-CIX, a major global operator of carrier-neutral Internet Exchanges (IX), to announce the launch of Gulf Gateway-IX, which will connect Muscat and Salalah under a single, synchronized national exchange fabric.
According to a press release, the new exchange will be housed in the Ooredoo data centers in Barka and in Salalah, located approximately 1,000 kilometers apart. DE-CIX explained that the Gulf Gateway-IX will operate as a single virtual exchange across the Sultanate, capitalizing on Oman’s dual subsea corridors.
It elaborated that Muscat serves as the primary northern gateway with major subsea cables landing from the GCC and Asia, while Salalah stands as the strategic southern subsea landing powerhouse connecting directly to East Africa, Europe, and India. Unifying both hubs allows networks to route around regional subsea disruptions seamlessly without needing international transit workarounds.
“We are redefining Oman’s role in the global digital economy. For our domestic enterprises, this fabric guarantees sovereign, ultra-low-latency connectivity essential to scale artificial intelligence, cloud workloads, and industrial automation across all governorates,” said Saoud Al Riyami, CEO, Ooredoo Oman. “Regionally, it provides GCC and East African operators with a direct, high-capacity alternative to vulnerable maritime choke points. Globally, it cements the Sultanate as the premier, carrier-neutral transit nexus bridging Asia, Africa, and Europe, unlocking high-value foreign digital investment and accelerating our non-oil economic diversification under Oman Vision 2040.”
Ivo Ivanov, CEO of DE-CIX, said, “Gulf Gateway-IX powered by DE-CIX establishes a resilient interconnection platform in Oman at one of the most strategically important infrastructure locations on the Arabian Peninsula. Together with Ooredoo Oman, we are laying the foundations for direct, secure and sovereign data exchange, locally within the Sultanate, regionally across the Gulf and, in the future, with key international interconnection hubs.”
DE-CIX will manage the technical operations of Gulf Gateway-IX through its DE-CIX as a Service program. In addition, the IX will be accessible through the Equinix data centers MC1 in Muscat and SN1 in Salalah. Gulf Gateway-IX is scheduled to go live in early 2027.