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.
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
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Araminta Robertson, of the Financially Mint blog, shares her financial advice for university leavers:
1. Build digital or technical skills: After graduation, people can find it extremely hard to find jobs. From programming to digital marketing, your early twenties are for building skills. Future employers will want people with tech skills.
2. Side hustle: At 16, I lived in a village and started teaching online, as well as doing work as a virtual assistant and marketer. There are six skills you can use online: translation; teaching; programming; digital marketing; design and writing. If you master two, you’ll always be able to make money.
3. Networking: Knowing how to make connections is extremely useful. Use LinkedIn to find people who have the job you want, connect and ask to meet for coffee. Ask how they did it and if they know anyone who can help you. I secured quite a few clients this way.
4. Pay yourself first: The minute you receive any income, put about 15 per cent aside into a savings account you won’t touch, to go towards your emergency fund or to start investing. I do 20 per cent. It helped me start saving immediately.
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