Du agrees to land Datawave’s SING cable in the UAE

Details: John Tanner; Category: Optical & Fixed Networks; 13 February 2026; 6567 views

UAE-based telco du said on Thursday it is partnering with Cyprus-based independent subsea infrastructure provider Datawave Networks to land the latter’s Singapore-India-Gulf (SING) subsea cable system in the UAE.

The SING cable is envisioned as a low-latency route linking key digital hubs across the Middle East, South Asia and Southeast Asia. Apart from the UAE, landing points are currently planned for Muscat (Oman), Mumbai and Chennai (India), Kedah (Malaysia) and Singapore.

Du said that establishing SING’s UAE landing point at its cable landing station in Kalba will reduce dependence on traditional subsea routes such as the Red Sea corridor, significantly enhancing route diversity and network resilience for global data traffic.

Du CCO Karim Benkirane added that the cable will give the UAE’s ambitions to become a top destination for AI, advanced compute infrastructure and global cloud expansion a boost, as SING is designed with the necessary scalability to support AI model training, real-time inference, and next-generation digital services.

“Our partnership delivers the scale, performance, and reliability required to support hyperscalers, AI innovators, and enterprises by creating a resilient alternative East-West connectivity corridor as the UAE and the region accelerate their digital ambitions,” he said in a statement.

Du also said it will invest in the SING cable, without giving further details.

The SING cable is designed with 16 fibre pairs with a minimum design capacity of 18 Tbps per pair, which Datawave has said will provide scalable, future-proofed capacity to meet accelerating regional connectivity requirements.

Datawave CEO Mark Wickham said the system's flexible architecture enables hyperscalers, cloud providers, and enterprises to efficiently scale capacity as AI adoption accelerates across the UAE, Gulf region, India, and Southeast Asia.

“The connection of SING to the UAE underscores the country's strategic importance and its influence in the global AI and data centre sectors,” he said. “Du’s commitment to advanced infrastructure aligns with our goals for SING, and we are therefore delighted to partner to build a strong and trusted subsea network addressing the future global digital needs of the region.”

The SING cable – which has been on Datawave’s drawing board since at least 2020 – was put back on the front burner last month after investment firm Cerberus Capital Management agreed to fund construction and deployment of the project in exchange for a majority stake in Datawave. No financial details were disclosed.