Telecom Operators

Zain KSA and AST SpaceMobile signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding (MoU) during the LEAP 2023 tech conference in Riyadh.

A newly formed subsidiary of private global investment company Priora Management Holding Dubai announced the acquisition of Virgin Mobile Middle East and Africa (VMMEA), the largest mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) in the region, with active operations in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Kuwait under the brands Virgin Mobile and Friendi Mobile.

Vodafone Group, Deutsche Telekom AG, Orange SA and Telefónica SA will form a joint venture for the implementation of a privacy-by-design digital marketing technology platform in Europe that seeks to benefit consumers, advertisers and publishers alike.

During LEAP 2023, Zain KSA and Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. announced an expanded collaboration to drive cloud-native, virtualized and O-RAN-compliant 5G infrastructure in Saudi Arabia. This collaboration will focus on 5G networks of the future — using Open RAN technology — and make cellular infrastructure more innovative, competitive and cost-efficient.

Vodafone Qatar achieved a speed score of 238.56, with median download speeds of 154.69 Mbps and median upload speeds of 21.42 Mbps during Q3-Q4 2022, according to results from consumer-initiated tests taken with Ookla’s Speedtest.

stc, the leading digital enabler in the region, announced the successful validation of AWS Snowball Edge in stc Lab, a device with onboard storage and compute power for select AWS capabilities. Snowball Edge can do local processing and edge-computing workloads to help stc deploy Mobile Private Networks (MPN) and MEC offerings at the edge in a fully disconnected and transportable fashion.

The Federal Tax Authority (FTA) has signed a collaboration agreement with Etisalat UAE, branded as etisalat by e&, to offer a bundle of facilities and privileges for registrants in the Muwafaq package initiative soon to be launched this year to facilitate tax compliance for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Etihad Etisalat, or “Mobily,” has announced a raft of new deals during LEAP 2023, covering a range of areas such as customer experience, gaming, cloud solutions, online marketplaces, CSR, cybersecurity and infrastructure, among others.

Kuwait Telecommunications Company (stc), reported a net profit of KD 33.2 million and a revenue increase of 13.5% to reach KD 336.4 million in its financial results for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022.

stc announced the launch of its corporate investment fund (CIF). The Fund aims to invest in early-stage startups in various domains, including fintech, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, digital games, Internet of Things, blockchain and other promising areas.