Ooredoo Oman and DE-CIX to launch nationwide internet exchange

Ooredoo Oman and DE-CIX have signed an agreement to launch Gulf Gateway-IX, a carrier-neutral internet exchange in Oman, scheduled to go live in early 2027. The platform will operate as a unified virtual exchange connecting two major hubs, Muscat and Salalah, under a single synchronized fabric.

The infrastructure will be hosted in Ooredoo data centers in Barka and Salalah, which are approximately 1,000 kilometers apart. The exchange will also be accessible through Equinix facilities in both cities. This setup allows network operators, enterprises, and content providers to exchange traffic across both locations using a single port and a common peering policy.

The project aims to provide regional resilience by offering a terrestrial alternative to maritime choke points and Red Sea bottlenecks. By utilizing subsea cable landings in Muscat and Salalah, carriers in the GCC and East Africa can route traffic around subsea disruptions without requiring international transit detours. Additionally, the exchange is intended to provide organizations outside the capital with low-latency access to hyperscalers such as AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud.