Digital Corridors: Why the Middle East Is A Growing Hotspot for Digital Exchange

Our first 'Digital Corridors' post explored how interconnection links Latin America business ecosystems to the world via U.S. hubs. In a similar manner, European metros, particularly the FLAP markets (Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam and Paris/Marseille) are a gateway for digital traffic from the Middle East. In fact, 83% of the Middle East's internet bandwidth is still connected to Europe according to TeleGeography.[i]

The submarine cable map below highlights this reliance on European destinations for traffic exchange. Middle East traffic is 'tromboning' to servers, content origins and Internet Exchanges in Europe, with European and Global Tier 1 network service providers (NSPs) acting as upstream carriers for regional incumbents.