At the Gulf Data Center Association's Touchdown Middle East Conference 2023 in Bahrain, The Tech Capital had the opportunity to interview Hani Askar, Chief Global Business Officer at Batelco, a telecommunications operator in the Middle East. With his experience and role in Batelco's global business, Askar shared insights into the company's contributions to the growth of digital infrastructure in the region and its strategic initiatives to address the evolving demands for digital connectivity and services. When questioned about Batelco's contribution to the growth of digital infrastructure in the Middle East, Askar highlighted the company's significant investments in subsea cables, culminating in the launch of Bwave. This wavelength service, offering 400G capacity high-speed connectivity, represents a substantial leap in Batelco's service proposition, quadrupling its current capacity. Additionally, Batelco's parent company, Beyon, announced a substantial investment of over US$250 million in digital infrastructure to support Bahrain's digital transformation, underlining the company's commitment to driving the growth of the country's digital economy. Askar discussed the main factors driving the demand for digital infrastructure and connectivity in the Middle East, emphasizing the exponential growth in data demand. He highlighted Batelco's collaboration with technology provider Ciena to elevate its solutions capabilities, providing faster connectivity and higher capacities to a wide range of customers, including wholesale providers, internet service providers, hyperscalers, enterprises, data center operators, and content providers. This strategic collaboration underscores Batelco's proactive approach in addressing the escalating demands for digital infrastructure and connectivity in the region. Regarding the utilization of emerging technologies like 5G and cloud computing, Askar emphasized Batelco's efforts to leverage these technologies to enhance digital services and connectivity in the Middle East. The company's investment in Bwave has successfully increased its data capacity by 400%, allowing for a substantial increase in bandwidth and enabling users to enjoy faster speeds and smoother connectivity. This strategic leveraging of emerging technologies underscores Batelco's commitment to providing innovative and high-quality digital services in the region. The executive concluded the interview by addressing Batelco's future plans and strategies to further strengthen the digital infrastructure landscape in the Middle East. He highlighted the company's focus on developing digital services and its launch of new digital brands, reflecting its commitment to advancing digital growth plans. +++ Follow us on: Subscribe: https://thetechcapital.com/register/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/thetechcapital_ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-tech-capital Instagram: https://instagram.com/thetechcapital_ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/The-Tech-Capital-101679965480510 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPZ8yuPvtECZCwV2g9OkX1w #digitalinfrastructure #datacenter #thetechcapital #cloudadoption #cloudcomputing #datacentre #infrastructure #youleadwereport

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