Etihad Etisalat (Mobily), a digital enabler in the technology, media, and telecom (TMT) sector in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), and Tencent Cloud, the cloud business of global technology company Tencent, have joined forces to launch the ‘Go Saudi’ programme, aimed at revolutionising the digital landscape of the Kingdom as it grows into a global business and entertainment hub.
As one of the largest telcos by wireless network coverage in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East, Mobily’s partnership with Tencent Cloud allows it to strategically diversify its enterprise business solutions, tapping on new technologies ranging from Artificial Intelligence (AI), Cloud, Big Data, Immersive Convergence, to capture new opportunities in the TMT sector and beyond.
Supporting Mobily’s Aspirations to Create an All-encompassing Digital Ecosystem
The ‘Go Saudi’ programme – which was announced and went live today at KSA’s flagship LEAP 2024 tech event – will take shape on several levels. Firstly, it provides a newly revolutionised enterprise cloud platform, built and powered by Tencent Cloud Enterprise (TCE), to provide integrated IT services, including Computing, Database, Network, Storage, Security, and other underlying digital fundamentals.
Mobily will utilise this platform to create a host of new, next-gen media and AI services, such as media processing capabilities, real-time communication and hosting for streaming and video-on-demand, digital human creation, and more, to benefit the company’s fast-growing portfolio of enterprise clientele. The enterprise-grade private cloud platform will prioritise user privacy and data security, with the aim to foster a trusted cloud environment, in order to appeal to businesses seeking a secure and reliable cloud solution to meet regulatory requirements and ensuring data protection. Mobily’s business revenues have doubled since 2018 to represent more than twenty percent of total revenue as of 2022.
Secondly, in leveraging the TCE platform, Mobily will explore Tencent Cloud Mini Programme Platform (TCMPP) capabilities, to offer integrated daily live services to connect subscribers and Internet users with enterprises and business communities, all within a single digital ecosystem.
Eng. Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al Badran, Mobily’s Chief Executive Officer, said “Mobily’s collaboration with Tencent Cloud enable us not just to scale our enterprise business further, but to play a much more active role in raising the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s profile as the preferred hub for global businesses expanding into the region.”
Meanwhile, Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer of Tencent Cloud and Smart Industries Group (CSIG), Dowson Tong, highlighted that the revamped enterprise cloud platform will give Mobily powerful new capabilities to grow its enterprise business across a much broader demographic of public and private sector customers.
“With more than 20 years of experience serving over a billion internet users with digital content, social communications, and gaming-related products and services, Tencent Cloud is confident in our knowhow and expertise to support the development and operation of the global business, entertainment, and media hub that is envisaged for Saudi Arabia. We look forward to supporting KSA’s aspirations to become a preferred launchpad for global enterprises in the region,” said Tong.
He added, “We see the partnership with Mobily as our first collaboration in Saudi Arabia, and it will foster an invaluable exchange of knowledge and innovation, while concurrently supporting the expansion of global and Chinese enterprises expanding into Saudi Arabia. We continue to seek more opportunities to support Saudi enterprises in their globalisation efforts, promoting their businesses and offerings, by leveraging Tencent’s digital ecosystem.”
Tencent Cloud’s Innovation and Business Vision at LEAP 2024 Mainstage
This year, Tencent made its inaugural appearance on the LEAP 2024. Speaking at a fireside keynote, Dowson hailed the Kingdom’s highly engaged and tech-savvy population and noted their emergence as both powerful consumers and developers of high-end digital media services.
Tong shared, “Tencent Cloud is open to more local collaborations to build a supportive digital ecosystem and dynamic talent pool in the Kingdom, to address the technology demands from new and varied verticals, including content creation, live streaming of major sporting tournaments, gaming, and other opportunities in the business, media and entertainment sectors.
“Today, Tencent Cloud’s Global Partner Ecosystem is 11,000 partners strong, jointly serving clients worldwide, and has been a key driving force for Tencent Cloud’s international business. Similarly, the Go Saudi programme can be a catalyst for the creation of an equally dynamic digital ecosystem right here,” concluded Tong.
The strategic collaboration between Mobily and Tencent Cloud comes amid the Kingdom’s broad based digital economic transformation, in line with its Vision 2030 strategy. Vision 2030 has set a target of 5.7% gross domestic product (GDP) and for KSA to be one of the top 10 economies of the world.
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