Saudi Telecom Co. (stc) has announced plans to spend about $1 billion to transform Saudi Arabia into a regional data hub.
The investment into its data centre called, Center3 will be made over the next five years. The investment would help Saudi Arabia host more media, gaming and corporate data. Mohammed Alabbadi, STC’s chief carrier, wholesale officer, and chairman of Center3, noted it would also follow an initial investment of $1 billion on building data centres and submarine data cables.
STC, which wholly owns Center3, may consider a stake sale in the future.
“We have already had talks with potential investors,” Alabbadi said. “Whether it’s direct equity share or an IPO, those things will be analysed in due course.”
STC is expanding into a range of services beyond its core telephone network business. In the past few years, its digital payments arm has grown to be worth more than $1 billion and the company has listed a stake in its Internet services arm.
“The region, and Saudi Arabia specifically, is still a consumer of data when it comes to how we connect to other hubs, whether that’s cloud content, media or gaming,” said Alabbadi. “With the growing demand, there’s a rising need to host that content locally.”
This news comes a few days after Saudi Arabia’s Gaming Group, Savvy Games Group, will invest $37 billion in the e-sports sector as it seeks to make the KSA a global gaming hub by 2030.
