Sparkle, the first international service provider in Italy, expanded its network footprint to Iraq with the opening of a new Point of Presence in Erbil, in cooperation with Novel Point, an Iraqi international provider of connectivity and ICT solutions. The PoP in Erbil leverages Novel Point’s open data center and Sparkle’s Tier 1 global IP backbone Seabone to deliver top-notch Internet connectivity services to the Iraqi market, as well as to neighboring countries.

"With the opening of our PoP in Erbil, Sparkle further expands its global network while acting as an accelerator for the development of value-added digital services in the region", said Enrico Bagnasco, CEO of Sparkle. By connecting to Sparkle’s PoP in Erbil, network providers, ISPs, OTTs, content and application providers as well as enterprises can benefit from what Sparkle describes as "reliable, low latency IP Transit services" in scalable multiples ranging from 10 GB to 100 GB.

Customers can also gain access to Sparkle’s IP portfolio including DDoS Protection - that grants customers the option to self-protect their networks from attacks – and Virtual NAP – which provides virtual access to leading Internet Exchange Points without the need to build proprietary infrastructure.

The new Sparkle PoP benefits also the local telecom market, explains Govan Shukri, CEO of Novel Point: the network expansion "represents a pivotal opportunity for Iraq to leverage its geographical advantage and align with the government's agenda to fortify its burgeoning digital economy".

The collaboration between Sparkle and Novel, emphasised Hiyam Al-Yasri, Iraqi Minister of Communications, "aligns well with the strategic vision of the Iraqi government to advance the digitalisation of our nation and position it prominently in the realm of international data traffic". And "it will provide both international and local enterprises a significant tool to enhance their operational efficiency within Iraq".