Huawei has selected Zain Group as a strategic partner in deploying its cloud services in Kuwait and across the Middle East and North Africa region.
The public cloud agreement is in line with the New Kuwait Vision 2035 and the strategic relationship established between Kuwait and China to drive improvements in the areas of Public Administration, Economy, Infrastructure, Living Environment, Healthcare, Human Capital, and Global Position.
The agreement will see Huawei Cloud services initially launched in Kuwait and across Middle East, with a wide range of offerings being made available to businesses and consumers. The market in MENA is estimated to be growing by more than 20% year-on-year according to industry analyst Gartner, with platform as a service (PaaS) and software as a service (SaaS) being among the fastest growing areas with public cloud service delivery.
Zain Group Vice-Chairman and CEO Bader Al-Kharafi said: “This agreement bolsters Zain's efforts in playing a key role in the ‘New Kuwait 2035’ national development plan as the deployment of public cloud services unlocks many opportunities for driving business growth and efficiency, as well as stimulating competition and innovation. This agreement adds to the comprehensive range of business-critical offerings we’ll be able to deliver.”
Charles Yang, President of Huawei Middle East, said: “Huawei will continuously focus on digital transformation, supporting our strategic decision to foster the growth of public cloud services.”
The companies have also assessed the expected business cases for 5G in the region, including its impact on IoT, mobility, connectivity, healthcare, government; and other essential sectors. Zain is on track to have its operations in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia be the first to launch 5G commercially.