Iraq’s Ministry of Communications has announced plans to establish five data centers in the country.. Three of these facilities will be located in the capital, Baghdad, at the Al-Sinak and Al-Intisar sites and the Telecommunications Tower in Al-Mamoun, Ali Yassin, a director general within the Ministry of Communications, told the Iraqi News Agency.. – Getty Images.
The other two are planned in Mosul and near the marine landing station in Basra Governorate.. The government expects this move to strengthen Iraq’s digital infrastructure and make the country more attractive to foreign firms.. Yassin said: “The importance of the data center lies in its role as a dedicated data hub for attracting major global companies, allowing their content and services to be hosted within the data centers being planned.”.
The ministry has yet to share details about the data centers, including size, capacity, and construction timelines.. Last year, the Ministry of Communications announced a partnership with Nokia to establish two state-owned data centers in Baghdad – likely to be two of the data centers in the ministry’s recent announcement.. “Nokia will build databases and data centers using the latest global technology,” Rocky Lozano, Nokia’s director for the Middle East and Africa, said at the time.
“This project is among the most important we are implementing in Iraq, and we are pleased to be part of the country’s urban development journey.”. Nokia has previously helped Iraq’s Ministry of Planning establish a data center to support the national census.. There are currently only two data centers in Iraq, according to the Data Center Map, but the country is developing major subsea cable infrastructure to become a regional connectivity hub..
All of Iraq’s current subsea connections, including 2Africa, Falcon, and Gulf Bridge International Cable System/Middle East North Africa Cable System, land in Al Faw. A fourth cable, Ooredoo’s Fiber in Gulf (FIG), is expected to become operational at the end of 2027.. FIG will connect Qatar, Oman, the UAE, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Iraq, providing 720Tbps of capacity across 24 fiber pairs through almost 2,000km (1,243 miles) of cable..
Learn more about the data center market in Saudi Arabia and the wider MENA region, and meet with other executives and experts in the region at the DCN Riyadh event next year.. More in Construction & Site Selection. 05 Jun 2026.
15 Jun 2026. More in Middle East. 01 May 2026.
04 Jun 2026
