One of the most significant drivers of the economic growth that the Kingdom is witnessing is the reliance on digital economy. The government of Saudi Arabia is emerging the ICT sector to provision and increase the capacity of businesses in the market, which will allow further capitals and productivity, and help obtain products, and services at lower costs. Saudi Arabia’s ICT strategy 2023 outlines the generation of more than 25,000 jobs in the sector, increasing the size of the IT market and emerging technologies by 50 percent, as well as raising the sector’s contribution in GDP by $13.3 billion
A new era of digital excellence is on the horizon. Over the past few years, stc Group the region’s digital enabler, has made significant strides towards enhancing the Kingdom’s digital infrastructure. The group continues to play a major role in accelerating the digital transformation in the region. Future-focused as ever, stc strategy is fully geared towards enhancing investments in digital infrastructure, keeping pace with the latest technologies, and building an integrated digital system that enrich customers’ experience, while bolstering an increasingly prosperous economy.
Business and technology are rapidly evolving, and the world is becoming more connected than ever. Service providers, such as stc Group will be essential to developing leading-edge digital communications and solutions that transform the success of companies as well as lives of individuals.
Previously, stc Group unveiled its initiative to establish the MENA Hub digital regional center for the Middle East and North Africa, during LEAP International Conference, with the aim of enabling the Kingdom’s economy and GDP growth. The MENA Hub digital center will link three continents, Asia, Europe and Africa benefiting from the strategic location of the Kingdom and promoting investment in international communication services and data centers. With a 1 billion USD investment, stc Group, inaugurates its largest and significant projects, a state-of-the-art, Center3 Company, the digital regional center for the Middle East and North Africa. The new company will be the owner of all the digital infrastructure assets owned by stc Group, including data centers, submarine cables and international points of presence.
“Many businesses are gathering massive data, but the real benefit is optimizing this data for analysis that can steer the business forward. Digital transformation in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is now creating the system for collecting the right data and integrating it with business intelligence at an advanced level, hence Center3 came in to contribute to this transformation as well as to enhancing the digital economy”, said Mohammed Alabbadi, stc Group Chief Carrier & Wholesale Officer.
Center3 will be a transparent point of contact in the telecommunications & Information technology sector as well as in the international communication infrastructure market. It aims to develop digital businesses and enhance investment opportunities in international communication services and data centers by providing the latest communication and hosting technologies. Furthermore, it will raise the capacity of data centers to meet the needs of the markets across Middle East, North Africa, as well as the rest of the world.
“This digital culture shift is crucial for businesses and enhancing it is even more vital for the success of the overall economy. It is definite that companies that undergo digital transformation improve efficiency and profitability. With the development of Center3 and data centers businesses can increase their agility with digital transformation to improve speed-to-market and adopt continuous improvement “, said Fahad Alhajeri, Chief Executive Office of Center3.
With the aim to enhance the digital system, stc Group launched Center3, which in turn will contribute to enhancing the Kingdom’s position as a regional digital center. This launch is in line with stc Group “dare” strategy to expand the scope and markets to achieve digital empowerment. Through Center3, stc seeks to build an integrated ecosystem of cables and data centers that pursues to attract big data, local and international service providers.
Center3 will provide data center services, international communication, and Internet exchange services through its assets. stc Group will work to achieve the company’s vision of making the Kingdom the main digital hub connecting three continents Africa, Asia and Europe as well as leading the largest share of Internet exchange and data traffic in the region.
stc Group continues to contribute to transforming the digital industry in the Kingdom into a leading industrial power and a global logistics center. It also seeks to develop the local industrial sector, which puts Saudi Arabia at the forefront of global countries among data-dependent economies, through the transformation of business environments. Moreover, the group pursues to place the local community to become digitally connected in a step to achieve an advanced digital economy.
