Saudi Telecom Group, the kingdom's biggest mobile operator, and China's Alibaba Group have teamed up to establish a cloud computing venture in the Arab world's biggest economy at an investment of 894 million riyals ($238m).
The new company aims to boost knowledge transfer in Saudi Arabia, contribute to job creation, increase investment opportunities in the cloud computing sector, and support the kingdom's economic diversification agenda, STC said in a statement on Wednesday.
The new company is being established in partnership with industry majors, including eWTP Arabia for Technical Innovation, Saudi Company for Artificial Intelligence and Saudi Information Technology Company.
"The company will contribute to developing the kingdom’s digital infrastructure and preparing it to provide the latest digital data storage services and solutions and ensure its protection and security, which will enhance the kingdom’s ability to provide cloud computing services to global companies," the statement said.
It will provide "advanced cloud computing services to companies operating in Saudi Arabia, ensuring that they employ the highest standards of security and protection", STC added.
Saudi Arabia is currently implementing its Vision 2030 strategy, which aims to steer its economy away from oil dependence. One crucial pillar is technology, with Riyadh encouraging entrepreneurship and seeking investments from both local and foreign entities to develop the sector.
The kingdom is projected to spend about $33 billion on ICT development in 2022, the International Data Corporation said in an April report. The sector grew 8 per cent between 2019 and 2021.
Many major Saudi entities are also contributing to the digital push. Saudi Aramco, the world's biggest oil producer and Riyadh-based Advanced Electronics Company in December signed a deal to further develop the kingdom’s digital ecosystem and accelerate the localisation of digital businesses.
STC has also partnered with the Public Investment Fund, Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, to establish an Internet of Things company. This will accelerate IoT adoption and offer smart solutions in critical economic sectors, it said last month.
The kingdom's growing technology space has also started to attract global interest. This week, Alphabet-owned Google, the world's largest internet company, said in its first Economic Impact Report that it was able to help to drive about 12.2bn riyals into the Saudi economy in 2021.
The partnership between STC and Alibaba comes amid significant increase in demand for cloud computing services and solutions regionally and globally.
Global spending on public cloud services is expected to jump 20.4 per cent annually to $495bn this year, research firm Gartner said earlier this month. Total spending is nearly $84bn more than the amount spent in 2020, and is expected to climb roughly 22 per cent yearly to almost $600bn next year, it added.
Alibaba, one of the world's biggest providers of cloud computing services, will offer a wide range of services and solutions in the kingdom. This is "a step that will enable local companies and institutions to digitise their businesses, employ the technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, raise work standards and enhance businesses".
In August last year, Alibaba also joined forces with the Saudi Tourism Authority to boost the entity's digital infrastructure.
Company profile
Date started: December 24, 2018
Founders: Omer Gurel, chief executive and co-founder and Edebali Sener, co-founder and chief technology officer
Based: Dubai Media City
Number of employees: 42 (34 in Dubai and a tech team of eight in Ankara, Turkey)
Sector: ConsumerTech and FinTech
Cashflow: Almost $1 million a year
Funding: Series A funding of $2.5m with Series B plans for May 2020
White hydrogen: Naturally occurring hydrogen
Chromite: Hard, metallic mineral containing iron oxide and chromium oxide
Ultramafic rocks: Dark-coloured rocks rich in magnesium or iron with very low silica content
Ophiolite: A section of the earth’s crust, which is oceanic in nature that has since been uplifted and exposed on land
Olivine: A commonly occurring magnesium iron silicate mineral that derives its name for its olive-green yellow-green colour
Champions parade (UAE timings)
7pm Gates open
8pm Deansgate stage showing starts
9pm Parade starts at Manchester Cathedral
9.45pm Parade ends at Peter Street
10pm City players on stage
11pm event ends
Polarised public
31% in UK say BBC is biased to left-wing views
19% in UK say BBC is biased to right-wing views
19% in UK say BBC is not biased at all
Source: YouGov
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Key recommendations
- Fewer criminals put behind bars and more to serve sentences in the community, with short sentences scrapped and many inmates released earlier.
- Greater use of curfews and exclusion zones to deliver tougher supervision than ever on criminals.
- Explore wider powers for judges to punish offenders by blocking them from attending football matches, banning them from driving or travelling abroad through an expansion of ‘ancillary orders’.
- More Intensive Supervision Courts to tackle the root causes of crime such as alcohol and drug abuse – forcing repeat offenders to take part in tough treatment programmes or face prison.
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
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Two stars
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
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Terror attacks in Paris, November 13, 2015
- At 9.16pm, three suicide attackers killed one person outside the Atade de France during a foootball match between France and Germany
- At 9.25pm, three attackers opened fire on restaurants and cafes over 20 minutes, killing 39 people
- Shortly after 9.40pm, three other attackers launched a three-hour raid on the Bataclan, in which 1,500 people had gathered to watch a rock concert. In total, 90 people were killed
- Salah Abdeslam, the only survivor of the terrorists, did not directly participate in the attacks, thought to be due to a technical glitch in his suicide vest
- He fled to Belgium and was involved in attacks on Brussels in March 2016. He is serving a life sentence in France
