Middle East cable delays threaten region’s digital hub ambitions

Subsea cable project delays in the Middle East are expected to persist despite the U.S.-Iran ceasefire, raising risks to the region’s ambitions to become a digital hub.

Analysts interviewed by the Financial Times said security concerns, insurance restrictions and the need for seabed surveys and redeployed cable-laying ships mean disruptions across the Strait of Hormuz and Gulf are effectively indefinite.

They added that the region’s infrastructure now has the reputation of being “a fragile chokepoint,” with past Red Sea cable cuts and geopolitical tensions reinforcing perceptions of vulnerability and deterring new investment.

Affected projects include Meta’s 2Africa Gulf segment, the proposed $700mn WorldLink network, Ooredoo’s Fiber in the Gulf, and Sea-Me-We 6, which links Southeast Asia to Europe, all of which are being slowed or paused as geopolitical risk deters new investment.