EBRD Iraq Market Study — Stream 5: Non-Mobile Infrastructure
Working draft v1.0 · April 2026 · Prepared for ToR coordination with Streams 4 (Telecom) & 6 (Regulatory)
The INFRA ITPC National Backbone is Iraq's core fixed-line artery, owned and operated by CO ITPC (Iraqi Telecommunications & Post Company), a state enterprise under the Ministry of Communications. The backbone consists of approximately 4,000 km of multi-layer fiber-optic cable running from GEO Al-Faw (Basra Governorate) to the Iraqi–Turkish border, passing through all 18 governorates. Originally built with USAID support (the Consolidated Fiber Network program, completed 2006), the backbone has undergone successive upgrades. CO Nokia was contracted to build the IP metro transport layer across 15 provinces (60 exchange nodes, 100G capacity upgradable to 400G), with CO EarthLink as the deployment partner.
CO ITPC holds a legal monopoly on backbone fiber ownership. Official wholesale bandwidth is priced at $24/MB, but black-market bandwidth circulates at approximately $4/MB — a 6× distortion. This shadow pricing underpins a parallel economy of unlicensed ISPs and cross-border bandwidth smuggling (particularly through the KRI). Any broadband ARPU or market-size calculation must model both the official and shadow price layers.
CO Cisco has reportedly been contracted for a further backbone modernization phase. The backbone also serves dual-use purposes: it carries TECH SCADA traffic for the Ministry of Electricity's power grid monitoring, making it a critical national infrastructure asset beyond telecommunications.
Iraq's FTTH rollout has accelerated dramatically. Ministry of Communications data shows cumulative FTTH connections growing from 276,000 (2021) → 1.5 million (2022) → 2.9 million (2023) → 3.5 million (mid-2024) → approximately 4 million (current). A 2024 census revealed more than 8 million additional homes excluded from original rollout plans, prompting the Ministry to announce an expanded national FTTH target. Fiber subscriptions surged approximately 414% in 2024 alone, from 216,800 to around 1.1 million subscribers (distinct from "connections passed").
The primary deployment uses TECH GPON (Gigabit Passive Optical Network) technology, with Nokia's 7360 ISAM FX-16 TECH OLT platform deployed across eight governorates for EarthLink. The architecture is upgradable to TECH XGS-PON (10G symmetric) on the same physical plant.
| Operator | Coverage | Scale | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| CO EarthLink | All 18 governorates; 400+ PoPs | Largest ISP. 800 fiber distribution terminals installed (600K homes each). Target: 5M homes within 2 years. 1.5M subscriber Nokia GPON contract. | CEO Dr. Alaa Mousa chairs FTTH Councils Global Alliance. Nokia backbone + FTTH vendor. REL serves federal Iraq. |
| CO iQ Group / iQ Online | GEO Sulaymaniyah (primary); Silk Route Transit spans all Iraq | 3,500 km fiber; FTTH in Sulaymaniyah; transit capacity >1 Tbps | CEO Asoz Rashid. Signed first dark-fibre IRU framework with GBI (Jan 2025). Backbone used by Iraq's two largest GSM operators. REL connects Turkey–Iraq–GCC. |
| CO O3 Telecom | GEO Erbil, GEO Duhok | 100,000+ FTTH subscribers | Derived from Kurdistan Net (est. 2001). Sole Turkey fiber import gateway for KRI. REL serves KRI; REL connects Erbil–Turkey. |
| CO FiberX | GEO Baghdad, GEO Basra (expanding) | Active large-scale FTTH hiring (Jan 2025) | Newer entrant in central/southern Iraq. |
| CO Newroz Telecom | GEO Erbil, GEO Duhok | ADSL + partial fiber | KRI-focused; also mobile (Fastlink brand). |
| CO FastIraq | National transit; DIA/Ethernet | Founded 2007. First wholesale fiber capacity contract with ITPC (2009). | CEO Timothy Moore. Polo Networks partnership for Iraq–Europe route. Transit licensed border-to-border. REL competes_with iQ Group on transit. |
National Internet Project (NIP): Launched February 2021, the NIP is the government's flagship FTTH program, implemented through ISP partnerships (primarily EarthLink). By February 2024, it had reached 180,000 subscribers and expanded to governorates including GEO Babil, GEO Maysan, GEO Muthanna, GEO Najaf, and GEO Dhi Qar. However, the Ministry has been criticized for slow activation of fiber distribution terminals already constructed by EarthLink.
The Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) operates as a functionally distinct broadband topology. CO O3 Telecom is the sole Turkey fiber import gateway for GEO Erbil and GEO Duhok, meaning KRI international bandwidth routes through Turkey rather than through ITPC's southern backbone to Al-Faw. This creates a bifurcated pricing structure, distinct peering relationships, and regulatory arbitrage (internet "smuggling" from KRI to federal governorates has cost billions of Iraqi dinars). KRI's infrastructure benefits from greater foreign investment and relative political stability since the 1990s; 4G has been available in major KRI cities since 2015, ahead of most federal Iraq.
Key KRI ISPs include CO Newroz Telecom (ADSL networks in Erbil/Duhok), CO iQ Online (FTTH in Sulaymaniyah), and CO Pirmam (resells Kurdistan Net/O3 fiber and VSAT across Iraq).
Mobile operators are actively pursuing TECH FWA as a gap-fill for areas lacking fiber. Operators bundle 4G routers with unlimited data plans to serve unfiber'd households. CO Nokia supplies E-band microwave for backhaul; CO Huawei provides massive-MIMO radios; CO Ericsson is running initial standalone 5G lab trials. EarthLink also operates the largest free public Wi-Fi network in Iraq (5,200+ access points), functioning as a de facto FWA layer for low-bandwidth users.
The CMC whitepaper (August 2025) identifies FWA using dedicated BWA spectrum as a policy priority for rural connectivity, though spectrum allocation remains constrained.
In March 2026, Iraq introduced a 20% service fee on FTTH and Wi-Fi internet services (cabinet resolution, December 2025). This is layered on top of existing levies: 17% of total project revenue to the Ministry of Communications and 20% of total revenue to the Ministry of Finance as sales tax. The cumulative tax burden on ISPs is among the heaviest in SEMED, compressing margins and discouraging rural investment where unit economics are already marginal.
Retail pricing remains high relative to incomes. EarthLink's cheapest monthly package runs approximately $22 in Baghdad (29,000 IQD for 40 Mbps) and $29 in other governorates — a geographic price differential that exacerbates the urban-rural divide. There are no regulated retail price caps; neither the Ministry of Communications nor the CMC has set pricing conditions for ISPs.
All submarine cables land at a single cable landing station (CLS) in GEO Al-Faw, Basra Governorate, operated by CO ITPC. This geographic concentration creates a single point of failure for Iraq's southern international connectivity.
| Cable System | Status | Capacity | Operator/Consortium | Landing | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| INFRA GBI Cable System | In service (2012) | Design: 40 Gbps (portions upgraded to 100 Gbps) | CO Gulf Bridge International | Al-Faw | First-ever subsea cable to Iraq. Ring: Qatar–UAE–Iran–Iraq–Kuwait–Bahrain–Oman–Saudi. Extends to Mumbai & Sicily. Built by TE SubCom. 25-year design life (to ~2036). |
| INFRA FALCON | In service (2012) | — | CO Global Cloud Xchange (fmr. FLAG Telecom) | Al-Faw | Private cable; ITPC is landing party. India–Gulf route. |
| INFRA 2Africa PEARLS | Construction; Pearls RFS 2026 | 180 Tbps (16 fiber pairs, SDM) | Consortium: Meta, Bayobab/MTN, center3/stc, CMI, Orange, Telecom Egypt, Vodafone, WIOCC | Al-Faw | World's longest subsea cable (45,000 km). Open-access, carrier-neutral. stc investment: $205M. Contract signed with Iraq (early 2024). Core system completed Nov 2025. |
| INFRA Fibre in Gulf (FIG) | Construction; RFS Q4 2027 | 720 Tbps (24 fiber pairs) | CO Ooredoo Group | Al-Faw | Landing Party Agreement with ITPC signed March 2025. Built by Alcatel Submarine Networks. Connects all GCC + Iraq. Designed for hyperscalers, AI providers, data centers. |
| INFRA Khaleej North (SEA-ME-WE 6 ext.) | Planned | — | — | Al-Faw (confirmed) | Extension of SEA-ME-WE 6 into the Gulf. |
| INFRA 6th Submarine Cable | Announced (Aug 2025) | — | Under discussion (Airtlink, Supercell, ViberX mentioned in ministry meeting) | Al-Faw (presumed) | Minister Dr. Hayam El-Yasri chaired planning meeting Aug 2025. |
Iraq will move from 2 in-service submarine cables to potentially 5–6 within 24–36 months — a transformational leap. Combined planned capacity (2Africa PEARLS + FIG alone) exceeds 900 Tbps, dwarfing Iraq's current absorption capacity by several orders of magnitude. The strategic implication is that Iraq's bottleneck shifts from international capacity to domestic distribution and data center infrastructure.
Iraq's geographic position — sitting between Turkey and the GCC with direct land borders to both — creates a natural terrestrial bridge between Europe and the Middle East. This "Northern Route" bypasses both the congested Suez Canal subsea corridor and the geopolitically volatile Red Sea.
| Corridor | Operator | Status | Capacity | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| INFRA Silk Route Transit | CO iQ Group | Operational; >1 Tbps | Multi-layer; 6 CLS including Al-Faw | 3,500 km across Iraq. First dark-fibre IRU with GBI (Jan 2025). Connects Turkey, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iran. Latency: ~70ms Europe–Asia via Iraq terrestrial + submarine. |
| INFRA Polo Networks / FastIraq Transit | CO FastIraq + CO Infonas | Operational | — | Licensed border-to-border transit. Dubai–Europe via Iraq alternative. Partnership with Ilex for network services. |
| INFRA ZOI Digital Corridor | CO Zain Omantel International + CO Horizon Scope + CO ITPC | Announced (May 2025) | — | Middle East–Europe digital corridor via Iraq. |
| INFRA Zajil / ITPC Kuwait–Europe Route | CO Zajil Telecom + CO ITPC | Agreement signed (April 2023) | — | Communications route from Gulf to Europe via Iraq. |
| INFRA Ooredoo Overland Link | CO Ooredoo | Announced; $500M pledged | — | Overland links from Iraq to Europe via Turkey, prompted by Red Sea cable risks. |
| INFRA O3 Telecom Turkey Gateway | CO O3 Telecom | Operational | — | Sole KRI fiber import from Turkey to Erbil/Duhok. Separate from federal ITPC topology. |
The confluence of Red Sea geopolitical risk (Houthi attacks on shipping, Iran–Gulf tensions) and growing demand for route diversity is driving rapid investment in Iraq as a transit corridor. The INFRA WorldLink Transit Cable Project ($700M hybrid cable, UAE through Iraq/Kurdistan to Turkey) has been announced but faces uncertainty from militia attacks on US bases in southern Iraq.
The official ITPC wholesale rate of $24/MB is extremely high by regional standards and is the root cause of Iraq's parallel bandwidth economy. For context, equivalent wholesale pricing in Jordan is approximately $3–5/MB; in Egypt, competitive backhaul from Telecom Egypt runs well below $2/MB. The black-market rate of ~$4/MB in Iraq is itself above comparator wholesale pricing, suggesting that even informal supply chains carry risk premiums (security, bribery, equipment seizure).
Iraq's data center market remains nascent — one of the least developed in MENA. As of early 2026, the country has a small number of commercial facilities concentrated in GEO Baghdad.
| Facility | Operator | Location | Carrier-Neutral? | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| INFRA Iraq Connectivity Gateway (ICG) | CO IRAQ-IXP | Baghdad | Yes (hosts IXP) | Houses the IRAQ-IXP powered by DE-CIX. The first functionally carrier-neutral facility in Iraq. |
| INFRA National Data Center | Government (MoC) | Baghdad | No | Newly commissioned. Houses government workloads. Referenced in multiple 2025 reports. |
| INFRA MASARAT Telecom DC | CO GCCIT | Baghdad | No | Carrier-owned. |
| INFRA EarthLink Data Center | CO EarthLink | Baghdad | No | Rack/server colocation, VPS, firewall services. |
| INFRA Greyhound DC | CO Grey Hound | Baghdad | No | 1U/2U/4U/half-rack/full-rack colocation. Managed hosting. |
| INFRA Talia Baghdad | CO Talia Limited | Baghdad | No | International carrier with local PoP. |
| INFRA Cloudflare PoP Baghdad | CO Cloudflare | Baghdad | N/A (CDN edge) | 128th global data center. Primarily CDN/edge, not colocation. |
CO Ooredoo operates 26 data centers across Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Iraq, and Tunisia through its new subsidiary CO Mena Digital Hub (carrier-neutral, headed by former Microsoft DC director Sunita Bottse). Ooredoo has pledged $1 billion in additional data center investment across MENA, with hyperscaler partnerships including Microsoft, Google, and Amazon. Iraq is included in this footprint, though specific capacity figures for Iraqi facilities are not publicly disclosed.
The government has signaled support for AI data centers in Iraq. However, critical barriers remain:
Power: Average Baghdad households receive fewer than 15 hours of electricity daily during peak summer. Industrial electricity costs approximately $0.11/kWh, but the real cost is much higher when diesel genset backup (required for 99.99% uptime) is included. The energy mix is ~99% fossil fuels; renewables are negligible despite Law 53/2017. This makes Tier III+ certification effectively impossible without massive captive power investment.
Physical security: Fiber sabotage is a documented operational risk — a February 2024 attack on eastern Baghdad cables affected 40,000 users. Environmental risk for Baghdad is classified as "High" (5.8/10), with river flood risk at 9.6/10 due to Tigris proximity.
Tax incentive: A 10-year tax exemption for qualified projects exists, which could offset some operational cost disadvantages.
Satellite has historically been essential for Iraqi connectivity, particularly in post-2003 reconstruction. Dozens of small TECH VSAT operators serve remote oil fields, rural communities, and military installations using C-band and Ku-band. CO Pirmam (affiliated with Kurdistan Net/O3) offers VSAT across Iraq. Traditional GEO satellite internet is expensive and high-latency, limiting it to niche applications.
CO SpaceX / Starlink is in advanced licensing discussions with the Iraqi government. Key milestones:
May 2025: SpaceX delegation visited PM al-Sudani's office to discuss cooperation. Sudani instructed authorities to facilitate and expedite necessary procedures.
December 2025: Starlink executives met PM al-Sudani in Baghdad (with US Chargé d'Affaires Joshua Harris present). Discussions covered "final procedures related to granting satellite internet licenses." Starlink representatives stated the company is ready to begin operations "within a short period" of receiving its license.
As of April 2026, Starlink is not yet officially available in Iraq. However, Starlink has registered IP ranges for Iraq (2 IPv4 ranges, 1 IPv6 range), suggesting technical preparation. Some Iraqis reportedly use Starlink informally via roaming kits, but this remains unofficial and subject to blocking.
If licensed, Starlink could rapidly connect Iraq's most underserved areas — western Anbar desert, mountainous northern regions, and southern marshlands — without waiting for fiber or tower buildout. This directly addresses the ToR's "connectivity models for unserved areas" requirement. However, licensing raises sovereignty concerns: Starlink's data routing (gateway ground stations, traffic inspection capabilities, and US-based corporate control) will likely face scrutiny similar to what has occurred in Turkey (which declined Starlink post-2023 earthquake) and Iran (unofficial use only).
CO YahClick (UAE) and Ka-band services via CO Hughes Network Systems (partnered with EarthLink) have served Iraq. CO Arabsat provides satellite capacity. CO OneWeb (LEO) has not announced Iraq plans. CO NuRAN Wireless has been involved in satellite-fed 3G cell sites in rural villages — a hybrid model worth evaluating for unserved-area analysis.
INFRA IRAQ-IXP is Iraq's first and only neutral Internet Exchange, launched in February 2024 and operated by CO DE-CIX under the DE-CIX as a Service (DaaS) model. It is hosted at the INFRA Iraq Connectivity Gateway (ICG) data center in Baghdad. CEO: Ahmed Rakwi.
In its first year, IRAQ-IXP has achieved remarkable growth:
Networks: 28 connected (as of April 2025), including global CDNs CO Meta, CO Akamai, and CO Tencent. This makes it the 3rd largest IX in the Middle East by connected networks (after UAE-IX and likely Bahrain-IX).
Traffic: Peak traffic reached approximately 180 Gbps (April 2025), up 150% since January 2025.
Roadmap: Direct connection planned to DE-CIX Istanbul and DE-CIX Frankfurt, giving Iraqi networks access to thousands of global peers.
Before IRAQ-IXP, all domestic Iraqi traffic was tromboned through international transit — a request from one Baghdad ISP to another would route through Frankfurt or London and back. The IXP keeps domestic traffic within national borders, reducing latency, lowering IP transit costs, and improving resilience. The rapid growth (28 networks in 12 months) confirms strong latent demand for local peering. However, IRAQ-IXP remains the sole IXP; additional exchanges in GEO Erbil or GEO Basra would further localize traffic and support the "Northern Route" transit strategy.
| Dimension | Iraq | Jordan | Egypt | Morocco | Tunisia |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Internet penetration | ~83% (ITU, 2024) | ~90% | ~82% | ~88% | ~79% |
| Fixed broadband sub./100 pop | Low (~3–5 est.) | ~10 | ~10 | ~8 | ~11 |
| FTTH maturity tier | Low (rapid growth) | Medium | Low (FTTC dominant) | Low (VDSL + FTTH mix) | Low (VDSL + FTTH mix) |
| Median fixed download (Mbps) | ~34 (mid-2023); improving | ~210+ | ~77 | ~47 | ~40 |
| Submarine cables in service | 2 (+ 3–4 under construction) | 1 (ADEN + terrestrial via Egypt) | 15+ (Mediterranean hub) | 5+ (Atlantic coast) | 5+ (Mediterranean) |
| Backbone ownership model | State monopoly (ITPC) | Liberalized (multiple) | Partially liberalized (Telecom Egypt dominant) | Partially liberalized (Maroc Telecom + InWi) | State-dominant (Tunisie Telecom) |
| Wholesale pricing distortion | Severe ($24 vs $4 shadow) | Minimal | Low | Moderate | Moderate |
| IXPs (count) | 1 (IRAQ-IXP, est. 2024) | 1 (JOIX, est. 2020) | 1 (CAIX, est. 2002; + EGIX planned) | 1 (MINX, est. 2019) | 1 (TunIXP) |
| Carrier-neutral DCs | 1 (ICG, nascent) | 2–3 | 5+ (incl. hyperscaler edges) | 3–4 | 2 |
| Starlink status | Final licensing stage | Not approved | Not approved | In discussion (Sahara pilot) | Not approved |
| Power reliability | Very poor (<15 hrs/day summer) | Good | Good (improving) | Good | Good |
| Fiber sabotage risk | High (tribal interference, conflict) | Low | Low–Medium | Low | Low |
Key insight: Iraq stands out among SEMED peers for the extreme contrast between its international capacity trajectory (about to become one of the best-connected countries in the Gulf with 5+ submarine cables and multiple terrestrial corridors) and its domestic distribution bottlenecks (monopoly backbone, power instability, minimal carrier-neutral infrastructure, regulatory opacity). Jordan, with far less international capacity, delivers dramatically better end-user speeds (~210 Mbps vs ~34 Mbps) because its backbone is liberalized and wholesale pricing is competitive. Egypt, despite similar FTTH maturity challenges, benefits from 15+ submarine landings and a mature IXP ecosystem. Iraq's improvement trajectory is steep but requires structural reform, not just cable landings.
The ToR calls for identification of "connectivity models for unserved areas." Iraq's unserved population is concentrated in three geographies: the western GEO Anbar desert, the southern marshlands (GEO Maysan, GEO Dhi Qar), and mountainous northern reaches beyond KRI urban cores. Barriers are consistent: no fiber, unreliable power, tribal opposition to infrastructure crews, and high operational cost.
What: Government-contracted FTTH deployment through ISP partners (primarily EarthLink), with ITPC retaining 20–30% revenue share and backbone ownership.
Status: Partially working. 180,000 subscribers by Feb 2024 across Babil, Maysan, Muthanna, Najaf, Dhi Qar. But MoC criticized for slow activation of already-constructed terminals (EarthLink built 800 terminals serving potential 600,000 homes; many remain inactive).
Verdict: Model works in peri-urban and secondary cities. Fails in truly rural areas where unit economics don't support fiber deployment. Revenue-share structure and high tax burden compress ISP margins, reducing appetite for low-density areas.
What: MNOs bundle 4G routers with unlimited data plans for unfiber'd households. Relies on existing tower infrastructure.
Status: Active. Operators pursuing FWA as gap-fill revenue stream. However, effective only where tower coverage exists. CO TASC Towers holds ~5,000 ex-Zain towers with tenancy ratio of ~1.1× (vs. 1.3–1.5× MENA benchmark from Stream 4), suggesting significant capacity for additional tenants if economics improve.
Verdict: Near-term pragmatic solution for semi-rural areas with existing towers. Cannot reach truly remote populations. Backhaul often limited to microwave, constraining capacity.
What: Low-earth-orbit satellite broadband directly to consumer terminals. No local infrastructure required beyond the terminal and power.
Status: Licensing imminent (December 2025 discussions at final stage). Not yet operational. Some informal roaming-kit usage.
Verdict: Highest potential for truly unserved areas (Anbar, marshlands, mountain villages). Key unknowns: pricing relative to Iraqi incomes, power availability for terminals, regulatory conditions (data sovereignty, traffic monitoring). If pricing mirrors global Starlink ($50–75/month), affordability will be a constraint; a subsidized rural program (cf. Mexico's "Internet para Todos" Starlink contract) could be transformative.
What: VSAT backhaul feeding small cell sites (3G/4G) in villages. Demonstrated by NuRAN Wireless in Iraq and by similar deployments in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Status: Pilot-stage in Iraq. NuRAN involvement noted but scale unclear.
Verdict: Elegant for village-level connectivity where a single VSAT terminal can serve dozens of households via shared wireless. Economics improve with LEO backhaul (lower latency, higher throughput than GEO). Requires universal service fund (USF) or donor subsidy to be viable at scale.
What: Small-scale operators purchasing bulk bandwidth and redistributing via Wi-Fi to a local neighborhood. EarthLink's 5,200+ public Wi-Fi hotspots represent an institutional version.
Status: Widespread informally. Many operate on black-market bandwidth ($4/MB), bypassing official ITPC pricing. Some tribal areas block all infrastructure entry.
Verdict: Already the dominant connectivity model for low-income and peri-urban Iraq. Functions despite (not because of) policy — enabled by the shadow pricing economy. Formalizing and supporting these operators (cf. Colombia's Law 2108 for community networks, Brazil's Anatel framework) could massively accelerate coverage while reducing regulatory arbitrage.
Rural broadband policy (subsidies, licenses, tax relief): A peer-reviewed study (2024, Journal of Information Policy) found that Iraqi rural broadband policy has "failed in the following areas: subsidy, licenses, and tax relief" due to "favoring private cellular broadband providers over rural public interest." The result: "social seclusion, apprehension of missing out, waiting without hope, and limited alternatives" for rural Iraqis.
Copper/legacy networks: Iraq had minimal copper local-loop infrastructure to begin with (unlike Egypt or Tunisia), so there was no ADSL upgrade path. The country essentially skipped the copper era, going from nothing to wireless/fiber — but "nothing" persists in areas where neither has arrived.
Universal Service Fund: No functional USF mechanism exists in Iraq. Comparators Jordan (TRC Broadband Fund), Egypt (NTRA universal service), Morocco (ANRT Service Universel), and Tunisia all operate USFs that cross-subsidize rural deployment. This is a critical structural gap.
INFRA FIG submarine cable and INFRA ITPC fiber backbone (expanding from 1M to 4.5M lines) are shared infrastructure dependencies spanning both mobile and fixed broadband analysis. CO TASC Towers holds ~5,000 ex-Zain towers with tenancy ratio ~1.1× vs 1.3–1.5× MENA benchmark — the low tenancy ratio indicates both an infrastructure-sharing deficit and an opportunity. Tower co-location could support FWA deployments if commercially structured.
ITPC's legal backbone monopoly, the $24/$4 pricing distortion, and KRI's separate topology are foundational constraints that shape every element of this infrastructure assessment. Reform of wholesale pricing — even partial liberalization (allowing ISPs to purchase international capacity directly at competitive rates) — would be the single highest-impact policy intervention for broadband development. The 20% internet service fee (March 2026) adds further cost burden on an already overtaxed sector.
1. ITPC backbone utilization: What percentage of backbone capacity is actually in use? What is the real-world uptime/availability? No public data exists.
2. Shadow pricing economy: What is the actual volume of "smuggled" bandwidth? What percentage of Iraq's internet traffic runs on unofficial channels?
3. Ooredoo/Mena Digital Hub Iraq DC capacity: How much IT load (MW) exists in Iraqi facilities specifically? What are expansion plans?
4. KRI international bandwidth volume: How much capacity flows through O3 Telecom's Turkey link vs. ITPC's southern backbone?
5. FIG & 2Africa PEARLS landing infrastructure: Are new cable landing stations being built, or will all cables land at the existing Al-Faw CLS? Single-CLS concentration is a strategic vulnerability.
6. TASC Towers fiber backhaul readiness: What percentage of 5,000 towers have fiber backhaul vs. microwave? This determines FWA feasibility.
7. Power purchase agreements for DCs: Who is negotiating PPAs? What are the terms? Is any renewable capacity being contracted?
8. Starlink license terms: What data sovereignty / traffic monitoring conditions will apply? Gateway ground station location?
| Priority | Organization | Target Role | Gap(s) Addressed |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CO EarthLink | CEO Dr. Alaa Mousa or CTO | FTTH deployment pipeline, NIP activation delays, wholesale pricing impact, DC expansion plans |
| 1 | CO IRAQ-IXP | CEO Ahmed Rakwi | IXP membership growth, content localization strategy, second IXP plans (Erbil/Basra), ICG data center capacity |
| 1 | CO iQ Group | CEO Asoz Rashid | Silk Route Transit utilization, dark-fibre IRU demand, KRI broadband economics, transit pricing |
| 1 | CO FastIraq | CEO Timothy Moore | Transit corridor demand from hyperscalers, Polo Networks status, competitor landscape, regulatory barriers |
| 2 | CO ITPC | Director General / CTO | Backbone capacity/utilization, CLS infrastructure for new cables, NIP rollout plans, wholesale pricing reform outlook |
| 2 | CO O3 Telecom | Management | KRI Turkey gateway capacity, subscriber growth, competitive dynamics with iQ/Newroz, federal-KRI bandwidth flows |
| 2 | CO Ooredoo / Mena Digital Hub | Iraq country lead or Sunita Bottse (CEO, Mena Digital Hub) | FIG cable timeline, Iraq DC expansion plans, hyperscaler demand pipeline, green energy strategy |
| 2 | CO DE-CIX | ME regional director | Traffic patterns at IRAQ-IXP, planned Istanbul/Frankfurt interconnect timeline, second Iraqi IX prospects |
| 3 | CO TASC Towers | CEO or commercial lead | Fiber backhaul status per tower, FWA feasibility, tenancy ratio improvement strategy |
| 3 | CO FiberX | CEO | Central/southern FTTH plans, funding model, competitive positioning vs EarthLink |
| 3 | CMC (Communications & Media Commission) | Senior regulatory official | Starlink licensing conditions, spectrum for FWA, universal service framework, pricing regulation outlook |
| 3 | CO Nokia Iraq | Head of Iraq Customer Business Team (Mohamed Faisal) | Backbone modernization roadmap, FTTH technology evolution (GPON → XGS-PON), 5G backhaul plans |
| 3 | World Bank / UNICEF Iraq | Digital development lead | E-government infrastructure requirements, school connectivity (EMIS across 4,514 schools), rural digital access programs |
The following table codifies the core entity-relationship graph for downstream analysis. All relationships are directional (Subject → Predicate → Object).
| Subject | Predicate | Object |
|---|---|---|
| ITPC | REL owns | National Backbone, Al-Faw CLS |
| ITPC | REL operates | Fiber backbone, microwave backbone, WLL, colocation |
| EarthLink | REL serves | Federal Iraq (all 18 governorates) |
| EarthLink | REL deployed_by | Nokia (backbone IP metro + FTTH OLT) |
| iQ Group | REL owns | Silk Route Transit (3,500 km) |
| iQ Group | REL connects | Turkey, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iran (via Iraq) |
| iQ Group | REL competes_with | FastIraq (transit market) |
| iQ Group | REL partnered_with | GBI (dark fibre IRU) |
| O3 Telecom | REL serves | KRI (Erbil, Duhok) |
| O3 Telecom | REL connects | Turkey → Erbil/Duhok (sole KRI gateway) |
| FastIraq | REL licensed_for | Border-to-border transit across Iraq |
| FastIraq | REL partnered_with | Infonas (Polo Networks) |
| GBI Cable System | REL lands_at | Al-Faw CLS |
| FALCON | REL lands_at | Al-Faw CLS |
| 2Africa PEARLS | REL lands_at | Al-Faw CLS |
| FIG | REL lands_at | Al-Faw CLS |
| Ooredoo | REL owns | FIG cable, Mena Digital Hub |
| IRAQ-IXP | REL hosted_at | ICG data center, Baghdad |
| IRAQ-IXP | REL operated_by | DE-CIX (DaaS model) |
| IRAQ-IXP | REL peers | Meta, Akamai, Tencent + 25 others |
| TASC Towers | REL owns | ~5,000 towers (ex-Zain) |
| TASC Towers | REL serves | Zain Iraq (anchor tenant), other MNOs |
| Starlink/SpaceX | REL licensing_with | Iraqi Government (MoC/CMC) |
| ZOI | REL partnered_with | Horizon Scope, ITPC (digital corridor) |
| Cloudflare | REL operates_pop | Baghdad |
| Nokia | REL vendor_to | EarthLink, Zain Iraq |
| Huawei | REL vendor_to | Multiple Iraqi ISPs/MNOs |
| Development Road | REL requires | Fiber trenching beyond urban zones (autonomous vehicle connectivity) |
Source notes: This assessment synthesizes public-domain sources including Capacity Media, SubmarineNetworks.com, DE-CIX press releases, Mordor Intelligence market reports, Freedom House country reports, SAMENA Council, CMC whitepaper, PeeringDB, and operator websites. All figures should be verified against proprietary data during interview phase. Data current to April 2026 based on available public sources.
Prepared for EBRD market study coordination. Draft — not for distribution.