By Simon Dux
Beyon-owned Batelco has chosen SubCom to manufacture and install its new Al Khaleej Cable that will branch from the 21,700km SEA-ME-WE 6 cable connecting Bahrain with 14 other countries.
The investment was first announced in May by technology firm Beyon Group as part of a US$250m investment into two subsea cables and a data centre which will be situated at a new tech hub called Data Oasis. The new data centre will be built on a 140,000 sqm site located in the south of the Kingdom.
The submarine cable connectivity to Bahrain and Al Khaleej Cable are expected to be completed by the second quarter of 2026. The new subsea cable will create a layer of network diversity and resilience for the heavily used routes connecting the Middle East towards Europe and Asia.
“The 1,400 km long Al Khaleej Cable, which will connect Bahrain to regional countries including Qatar, UAE and Oman, will substantially boost Batelco’s capabilities and strengthen regional connectivity,” said Batelco chief global business officer Hani Askar.
“A robust connectivity infrastructure is central to the growth of a digital economy and our investment in the SEA-ME-WE 6 and Al Khaleej Cable systems, along with our existing international infrastructure, will further enhance the diversity, resilience and latency of our network systems,” he added.
Batelco joined the SEA-ME-WE 6 consortium in February, which includes Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company Limited (BSCCL), Bharti Airtel Ltd. (India), Dhivehi Raajjeyge Gulhun Public Limited Company (Dhiraagu Maldives), China Unicom (China), Djibouti Telecom, Mobily (Saudi Arabia), Orange (France), Singtel (Singapore), Sri Lanka Telecom, Telecom Egypt, Telekom Malaysia, Telin (Indonesia) and Trans World Associates (Pakistan).
SubCom has also been commissioned to build that cable which will feature 10 fibre pairs, with 12.6Tbps per fibre pair and 126Tbps system capacity. Once completed, the cable and equipment for both the SEA-ME-WE 6 and Al Khaleej Cable systems will be loaded onto SubCom’s Reliance Class cable ships for deployment.
New enterprise portal launched
Batelco also stepped up efforts to digitise its enterprise offerings with the launch of a portal that gives companies an overview of all their services, allowing them to view and manage their usage and consumption as well as apply for new services.
The portal’s suite of services includes renewal and upgrade of packages, activating additional lines, adding bolt-ons within seconds, settle device instalments, and restore inactive lines. Customers can also apply for new services such as Mobile Voice, Mobile Broadband and Fixed Broadband. A multiuser interface provides business customers with multiple access levels for their account, allowing them to assign roles to sub-users.
“The launch of the portal is in line with Batelco’s ambitions to support the digital transformation of business customers, providing them with a comprehensive solution to streamline their operations and enhance their user experience, making their telecom journey more functional and effective,” said Batelco GM enterprise Abdulla Danesh.
