Saudi-based international towerco TAWAL and Dutch-based smart city infrastructure company 5SKYE have signed a partnership to jointly deploy 5G AI micro edge data centres to support the acceleration of digital transformation in Saudi Arabia.
The agreement was signed at Connected World KSA with support of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology of Saudi Arabia.
5SKYE’s edge infrastructure provides scalable, real-time data processing to facilitate the adoption of intelligence applications such as IoT-driven CCTI AI analytics, digital advertising and edge compute to support smart city initiatives.
Abdulrahman Almoaiqel, Chief Commercial Officer of TAWAL, stated “By combining TAWAL’s existing robust telecommunications infrastructure with 5SKYE’s innovative and visually impactful micro data centres, we are delivering next-generation solutions that will drive value across key industries.
“This partnership is about more than technology, it’s about enabling smarter, faster, and more sustainable ways of working for businesses, governments, and communities throughout the kingdom.”
TAWAL has become a key player in the Kingdoms’ Vision 2030 digital transformation strategy, deploying much of the connectivity infrastructure needed to support the technology layer.
Earlier this year, Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund The Public Infrastructure Fund (PIF) acquired a 51% stake in TAWAL from mobile operator stc Group, becoming wholly owned by PIF. The subsequent merger between TAWAL and LATIS (or GLIC), PIF’s towers acquired from Zain KSA, has created a towerco unit of over 16,000 sites able to accelerate digital infrastructure at scale.
Wolf Hisserich, Founder and CEO of 5SKYE, said: “We are thrilled to join forces with Tawal to advance the kingdom’s digital transformation. 5SKYE’s high-performance, scalable infrastructure allows industries to embrace AI-driven innovation and deliver solutions at the near and far edge.
“This collaboration strengthens Saudi Arabia’s position as a leader in digital modernisation and sets the stage for sustainable AI-adoption across different sectors and markets.”
