Saudi Telecom partner with Level 3 for international IP and content distribution services

Saudi Telecom (STC) has announced that it has formed a long term partnership agreement with Level 3 to facilitate international IP and content distribution services in Saudi Arabia. This service will also be available across the Middle East.
To provide significantly enhanced connectivity and breadth of services to customers connecting to the Middle East, the agreement leverages the respective strengths of each company. Content customers in the Middle East will have the ability to distribute their content across both STC’s and Level 3’s international networks. Both US and European CDN customers will have access to a new broadband market in the Middle East.
With multiple submarine cable systems and a terrestrial cable system, Saudi Telecom is the only Middle East operator to have the international connectivity.
According to James Heard, President of European markets at Level 3, leveraging STC’s terrestrial connectivity in eight Middle Eastern countries, combined with the broad reach of Level 3’s international IP and CDN networks, they are able to expand their offerings to new and existing customers around the world. They have worked hard over the years to build out their international connectivity, and this agreement with STC is an important next step in expanding that connectivity.
At various points of presence (PoPs) across Europe, Level 3 is also providing STC with increased IP connectivity in the form of multiple 10 Gigabits per second (GBPS) ports. The company has a strong history of commitment to Middle East service providers. Level 3 allows for greater connectivity to the Middle East and Africa through its existing PoP site in Marseille as well as more than 300 other PoP locations across Europe.