Ooredoo secures $549 million finance to build out MENA AI infrastructure

The 10-year hybrid facility is the largest tech transaction ever in Qatar.

#Qatar #infrasctructure - Qatar-based telecom group Ooredoo Group has signed a QAR 2 billion ($549m) financing deal with QNB, Doha Bank, and Masraf Al Rayan to expand its data centre operations across its Middle East and North Africa (MENA) business. The largest ever finance transaction in Qatar's ICT sector, the 10-year hybrid finance facility will allow Ooredoo to accelerate AI and cloud services expansion. The announcement follows the signing of a deal with global chipmaker NVIDIA in June, paving the way for Ooredoo to buy and deploy thousands of Nvidia Tensor Core GPUs, creating an AI cloud services platform to cover its operations in Qatar, Algeria, Kuwait, Tunisia, the Maldives and Oman.

SO WHAT? - Smaller in both land area (11,600 sq. km.) and population (c. 3 million) than its neighbours, the dynamics of the Qatari market have always been different to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. In the sphere of AI and emerging technologies, Qatar has recently quickened its pace, launching a variety of ecosystem, R&D and digital transformation initiatives. In February, the Ministry of Communications and Technology announced Digital Agenda 2030, a far reaching digital transformation strategy to harness new technologies to generate 40 billion Qatari Riyals ($11b).

However, Ooredoo’s Middle East and Africa footprint covers territories with a combined population of more than 76 million. Therefore, the AI data centre and cloud services opportunity that the new financing supports is a big one. The deal will allow the telco to both roll-out state-of-the-art infrastructure at home and seize first-mover advantage for AI-ready cloud and data centre services in some of its foreign markets.

Here are some key points regarding this deal:

• Ooredoo Group has secured a QAR 2 billion ($549 million) financing deal with QNB Group, DOHA BANK, and Masraf Al Rayan. The 10-year hybrid facility is the largest tech transaction ever recorded in Qatar.

• Funds will will power the growth of Ooredoo’s data center unit and unlock new opportunities in AI and Cloud computing. The telco will be able to rapidly expand data infrastructure and AI cloud services platform for its Middle East and North Africa business. The group announced plans earlier this year to delivery AI and data services across its MENA foot-print.

• Ooredoo has 26 active data centres across Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Iraq, and Tunisia, and has previously announced plans to expand cloud services to other markets such as Algeria and the Maldives.

• The company is committed to building a new generation of sustainable, energy-efficient data centers that will securely process IT workloads for governments, hyperscalers, enterprises, and startups, driving innovation and AI adoption across the region. Ooredoo plans to expand its GPU-as-a-Service, offering on-demand access to some of the most advanced AI and machine learning tools available.

• Ooredoo signed an agreement with global chipmaker NVIDIA in June, paving the way for it to buy and deploy thousands of Nvidia Tensor Core GPUs, which will be used to underpin an AI cloud services platform for its Middle East and North Africa business.

Read more about Ooredoo’s AI infrastructure plans:

• Ooredoo to buy thousands of Nvidia GPUs (Middle East AI News)