RIYADH, Dec 12 (NNN-SPA) – The Saudi Arabian government and Chinese tech giant, Huawei, signed an ICT cooperation deal, aiming to fast-forward the kingdom’s digital transformation, the company announced yesterday.
The memorandum of understanding (MoU) was recently reached with the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, in the Saudi capital of Riyadh, said a Huawei statement.
Under the deal, the two sides would jointly build ultrafast broadband infrastructure in Saudi Arabia, and launch in 2023, the first “10Gbps Society” pilot region, so as to expedite the kingdom’s digital transformation, under the framework of the Saudi Vision 2030, it noted.
The two sides would also support local digital enterprises, working on projects of smart cities, internet of things, artificial intelligence, gaming, financial technology, e-commerce, and blockchain, while helping to expand cloud capacities of small- and medium-sized enterprises.
“Our company, as an ICT infrastructure and smart terminals provider in Saudi Arabia and its long-term partner, wishes to back the kingdom’s ICT ambition with our expertise and experience,” Xiang Yi, president of Huawei Middle East and Central Asia Region, was quoted by the statement, as saying.
With the support of the ministry, Huawei would build a cloud computing region in the kingdom, strengthening partnerships with local data centre companies.
The deal also covered the launching of a training programme for Saudi university students, including visits to Huawei headquarters for in-depth tech learning.
