Amwaj Island, Bahrain

Amwaj Island, Bahrain: Submarine Cable Landing Point

Amwaj Island is a man-made island group situated in the Persian Gulf, located approximately 10.5 kilometres northeast of Manama off the north coast of Muharraq Island. As part of Bahrain's submarine cable infrastructure, this landing point connects the island nation to the regional Gulf communications network. One submarine cable lands at Amwaj Island, the Tata TGN-Gulf system, which links Bahrain to four neighbouring Gulf states and supports intra-regional connectivity across the Arabian Peninsula.

The Tata TGN-Gulf cable establishes Amwaj Island as a participant in one of the Gulf's dedicated regional submarine cable corridors. While Bahrain's cable infrastructure as a whole spans connections of considerable length, the TGN-Gulf system is oriented specifically toward regional rather than intercontinental routing, forming a network among the Gulf Cooperation Council states of Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.

Cables Landing at Amwaj Island, Bahrain

Tata TGN-Gulf is a submarine cable system with a total length of 4,031 kilometres, which reached ready-for-service status in 2012. In addition to Amwaj Island in Bahrain, the cable lands in Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. This makes it a multi-country Gulf regional system, connecting five of the six Gulf Cooperation Council member states along a single cable route. The cable was developed under draft status at the time of its RFS designation.

Regional Context

Within Bahrain, Amwaj Island is one of three landing points for submarine cables. Manama, the capital, hosts four cables and serves as the country's most connected landing point, while Al Hidd hosts three cables. With one cable, Amwaj Island ranks in the upper third of Bahrain's three landing points by cable count, reflecting a focused rather than broadly diversified submarine cable presence at this location.

Network Role

Amwaj Island functions as a single-cable terminus within Bahrain's submarine cable geography, hosting the Tata TGN-Gulf system exclusively. This cable's reach across Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates positions Amwaj Island as a node within a Gulf-wide regional network rather than a gateway to intercontinental routes. The landing point's role is therefore complementary to Bahrain's other, more cable-dense terminals at Manama and Al Hidd.

In the regional submarine cable graph, Amwaj Island's connection to the Tata TGN-Gulf system adds a geographically distinct landing point for intra-Gulf traffic in Bahrain, distributing the country's submarine cable access beyond its main urban and industrial coastal sites.