stc Group has inaugurated one of its largest and significant projects, Center3 Company, the digital regional center for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). The new company will be the owner of the digital infrastructure assets owned by stc group, including data centers, submarine cables, international points of presence, and internet exchange points. The inauguration took place in the presence of Prince Mohammad Bin Khalid Al Abdullah Al-Faisal, chairman of the Board of Directors of stc Group, Minister of Communications and Information Technology Eng. Abdullah Bin Amer Alswaha, and a number of excellencies and senior executives of stc Group. The Center3 will be a group of carrier-neutral data centers and a provider of international communication for the telecommunications sector through a submarine fiber-optic network. 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 and raising the capacity of data centers to meet the needs of the markets across Asia, Europe, Africa, and the rest of the world. "The stc Group launched Center3 to enhance the digital system, which in turn will contribute to enhancing the Kingdom's position as a regional digital hub. This launch is in line with our strategy to expand the scope and markets to achieve digital empowerment," said Eng. Olayan Alwetaid, stc Group CEO. "At Center3, we aim to build an integrated ecosystem of cables and data centers that seeks to attract Hyper-scalers, big data, and local and international service providers", said Center3 CEO Fahad Alhajeri. "Center3 will provide data center services, international communication and Internet exchange services through its assets. "We will work to achieve the company's vision of making the Kingdom the main digital hub connecting the three continents Asia, Europe, and Africa, in addition to leading the largest share of Internet exchange and data traffic in the region," added Alhajeri. With the launch of Center3, stc Group would have completed the digital system pursuit by launching a number of companies in the fields of cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, Internet of Things and digital infrastructure. This will contribute to transforming the digital industry in Saudi Arabia into a leading industrial power and a global logistics center, as well as the development of the local industrial sector, which puts Saudi Arabia at the forefront of global countries, through the transformation of business environments and the local community to be digitally connected in order to achieve digital economy and progress. Previously at LEAP, the International Conference, stc Group had announced the launch of an initiative to establish a main digital center for the Middle East and North Africa, with an investment of $1 billion, with the aim of enabling growth in the Kingdom's economy and GDP. This comes in cooperation with regional and international partners. The center will link three continents, benefiting from the strategic location of the Kingdom, and promoting investment in international communication services and data centers. It will include the installation of several highly efficient cables to meet the future requirements of cloud services, by investing in an advanced fiber-optic network that ensures continuous service availability. Moreover, the group had also recently inaugurated the submarine cable "Saudi Vision Cable", which is a high-speed submarine cable in the Red Sea through its first landing station in Jeddah, which extends over a distance of 1,160,000 meters, and provides high-speed access across the borders of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia through four landing stations, Jeddah, Yanbu, Dhaba, and Haql. — SPA
