- Bader Al-Kharafi: “Agreement bolsters Zain’s efforts in playing a key role in the ‘New Kuwait 2035’ national development plan”
- Zain’s digital strategy focuses on unlocking the tremendous growth opportunities in B2B, aiming to become the operator of choice for governments and enterprises
- Demand for cloud services increasing exponentially in emerging markets due to growing needs for digital security and data backup
- MoU signed during two-day strategy summit held in Shanghai between Zain and Huawei
Shanghai, Kuwait City – October 30, 2018
Zain Group, the leading mobile telecom innovator in eight markets across the Middle East and Africa, has been selected by Huawei, a leading global provider of information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure and smart devices, to become a strategic partner in the offering of HUAWEI CLOUD services in Kuwait and across the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA).
The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the two companies was signed during a two-day strategy summit held in Shanghai, China where Zain Group executive management met counterparts from Huawei to discuss a range of topics related to establishing additional areas of potential cooperation. The public cloud agreement is in line with the New Kuwait Vision 2035 and the strategic relationship established between Kuwait and China to drive improvements in the areas of Public Administration, Economy, Infrastructure, Living Environment, Healthcare, Human Capital, and Global Position.
The agreement will see HUAWEI CLOUD services initially launched in Kuwait and across Middle East, with a wide range of new offerings being made available to businesses and consumers alike. The market in MENA is estimated to be growing by more than 20 per cent year-on-year according to industry analyst Gartner, with platform as a service (PaaS) and software as a service (SaaS) being among the fastest growing areas with public cloud service delivery.
Commenting on the entering the public cloud MoU with Huawei, Zain Group Vice-Chairman and CEO Bader Al-Kharafi said, “This agreement bolsters Zain’s efforts in playing a key role in the ‘New Kuwait 2035’ national development plan as the deployment of public cloud services unlocks many opportunities for driving business growth and efficiency, as well as stimulating competition and innovation. It also enhances our ambitions of becoming the operator of choice for governments and enterprises of all sizes across our footprint.”
Al Kharafi continued, “In the implementation of our digital transformation strategy, Zain has consistently looked to bring cutting-edge solutions to the region for the benefit of its customers. In recent years we have intensified our focus on the delivery of business-to-business (B2B) solutions, and this agreement adds to the comprehensive range of business-critical offerings we’ll be able to deliver.”
“Public cloud is the cornerstone of digital transformation, I look forward to promoting HUAWEI CLOUD across the MENA with Zain”, said Charles Yang, President of Huawei Middle East, “As a global leading ICT player, Huawei will continuously focus on digital transformation, supporting our strategic decision to foster the growth of public cloud services. Zain is one of our most important partners in the region and this partnership will support the realization of Kuwait 2035 vision and other MENA nations’ plans alike, bringing digital to every person, home and organization for a fully connected and intelligent MENA.”
Zain and Huawei discussed other topics during their summit in Shanghai, including each company’s respective technology roadmap given the introduction of 5G in the MENA region as early as next year. The companies assessed the expected business cases for 5G in the region, including its impact on IoT, mobility, connectivity, healthcare, government; and other essential sectors. Zain is on track to have its operations in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia be the first to launch 5G commercially.
Furthermore, Zain and Huawei discussed the opportunities of innovative B2B services that is a growth engine for Zain, serving the entire spectrum of customers, from Small Office, Home Office (SoHo) companies to large corporations and government entities with dedicated B2B units. In developing these opportunities, Zain is evolving from being a mobile centric operator to a full-service ICT player, advancing innovative mobile, fixed-mobile, fixed, IoT, IT security and Cloud-based solutions to private and public-sector organizations.
Enterprises typically require solutions that offer greater flexibility, connectivity, scalability, security, and processing power, as well as an ability to be accessed from locations around the world. Given Zain’s expertise and synergies between its operations, Zain aptly offers B2B solutions helping governments and organizations of all sizes with specialized products and services aimed at meeting their unique needs.
About Zain Group: Zain is a leading telecommunications operator across the Middle East and Africa, providing mobile voice and data services to over 47.4 million active customers as of 30 June, 2018. With a commercial presence in 8 countries, Zain operates in: Kuwait, Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and South Sudan. In Lebanon, the Group manages ‘touch’ on behalf of the government. In Morocco, Zain has a 15.5% stake in ‘INWI’, through a joint venture. Zain is listed on the Kuwait Stock Exchange (stock ticker: ZAIN).For more, please email [email protected] or visit: www.zain.com; www.facebook.com/zain; www.twitter.com/zain; www.youtube.com/zain; www.instagram.com/zaingroup; www.linkedin.com/company/zain