Ooredoo has successfully signed a significant financing deal with QNB, Doha Bank, and Masraf Al Rayan, marking the largest transaction in terms of value and tenor within Qatar’s tech sector. This 10-year hybrid facility combines commercial and Islamic financing tranches.
The funds from this deal will be primarily used to separate existing data center assets from Ooredoo’s telecom operations and to enhance capacity and infrastructure. This expansion aims to support the surging demand for AI, cloud services, and hyperconnectivity.
Aziz Aluthman Fakhroo, Group CEO of Ooredoo, stated, “This financing deal is a pivotal achievement in our strategic plan to grow our data center and AI operations significantly.”
Ooredoo’s Data Centre company is set to boost its capacity to over 120 megawatts, with a $1 billion investment designed to accommodate the increasing need for localized cloud services and IT workloads, especially from hyperscalers.
Currently, Ooredoo operates 26 data centers across Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Iraq, and Tunisia, leading the data center market in the MENA region. The Middle East data center market is projected to expand from $5.57 billion in 2023 to $9.61 billion by 2029, growing at a CAGR of 9.52%.
The company’s strategy includes collaborating with hyperscalers to provide cloud-based solutions such as Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), further establishing its role in the regional data center market.