Iraqi Kurdistan’s Newroz Telecom Discusses Recent Problems of Data Exchange Project in Iraq

Newroz Telecom had a plan to position Iraq on the global map by building data transfer infrastructure that would have connected the East to the West with a data hub in Baghdad, which would have competed with traditional sub-marine cables going through the Suez Canal.

This initiative could have generated millions of US dollars in revenues and would have placed Baghdad among the ranks of Marseilles, New York, Frankfurt, London and others. Baghdad would have become an exchange for data in Iraq, so companies in Saudi Arabia, Iran, or even the Far East would not go all the way to buy to London and Frankfurt to buy IP’s.

However, this initiative was blocked by the Prime Minister of Iraq, because of the unfounded security concerns that preceded by a dismissal of the former Iraqi Minister of Telecommunications, Mr. Muhammed Tofiq Allawi.

80% of the project is already finished: an investment of $137 million US dollars. But without an authorization issued by the central government’s authorities, the future of the project remains in limbo.