Bahrain’s Kalaam Telecom, a leading technology solutions provider, has announced the acquisition of Zajil International Telecom Co. (KSCC), one of Kuwait’s longest-established ISP and ICT services companies.
The acquisition will create a combined entity with revenue of $100 million, with data centers in five countries, network Point of Presence (PoPs) in 25 countries, and a subsea and land cable network that connects three continents. Kalaam will be among the top three ISPs in the GCC and will be the only operator with an ISP licence for Bahrain, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.
“Kalaam has grown rapidly, from a privately-owned local operator to become a regional telecom leader serving a broad base of enterprise, wholesale and channel customers. The acquisition of Zajil empowers Kalaam Group to become a full stack one-stop, end-to-end solutions provider of choice for the local & regional enterprise market and the international wholesale business,” said Veer Passi, CEO of Kalaam Telecom.
“Kalaam has impressively evolved from being a pure ISP to become a 360 degree digital solutions provider, building a full stack Industry customized ecosystem of ICT solutions, including Cloud, Security, Data Center, IOT, AI and Unified communications for its customers.
“With its terrestrial fiber cable system, KNOT (which spans 1,400 km across GCC), and Zajil’s consortium ownership in EIG (Europe India Gateway, a 15,000-km international fiber optic submarine cable system that links 12 countries across three continents, the combined group will be able to offer redundant, secure and fast access to its Enterprise & Wholesale customers, for reaching their applications, data , workloads and other services on the Cloud or for connecting their regional & international branches.
“The combined network will provide footprint in 25 countries in Mena, Europe, US and Asia with 53 fully owned Point of Presence (PoPs) to deliver all the product lines, and industry-specific solutions for the banking, oil & gas, retail, telecoms and transportation sectors,” he added.
“Zajil Telecom was the first ISP in Kuwait and has built on 30 years of experience to be recognized today as a leading information technology and communication service provider in the Mena region. The company is a regional leader in MPLS solutions, with a global customer base and network,” said Mohammad Al-Tuwaijri, Chairman, Zajil Telecom.
“With the acquisition of Zajil, Kalaam Telecom will be uniquely positioned as the clear market leader, expanding its enterprise solutions across the Mena region, Europe, US and Asia. The combination of services and infrastructure brought together by the Zajil and Kalaam Telecom merger will result in the delivery of more advanced and industry-specific solutions.”
The company will continue to serve Zajil’s corporate customer base with specialized consulting and industry specific solutions in banking, oil & gas, retail, telecommunications, and transportation verticals, and will also incorporate Zajil’s data centres in Bahrain, Jordan, KSA, UAE and the UK into its portfolio of offerings.