Page 36 - SAMENA Trends - March-April 2022

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Equinix to Build First Data Center in Salalah in

Partnership with Omantel

Equinix, Inc., has announced plans to build a brand new data Salalah by building a world class data center that will undoubtedly
center in the city of Salalah, which is located on the south coast change the landscape of global traffic flows between three major
of the Sultanate of Oman in the Middle East. The data center continents.” Said Kamel Al-Tawil, Managing Director of Equinix
is being built in cooperation with Omantel, the regional leading Middle East and North Africa. “With access to several new and
wholesale carrier of the Middle East, and will be commercially and existing submarine cables, this major new interconnectivity
operationally managed in full by Equinix as a carrier neutral and point continues Equinix’s strategy of developing network-dense
open access Equinix International Business Exchange™ (IBX®) and interconnectivity-rich ecosystems.” He added. The SN1
data center. The new site, named SN1, demonstrates Equinix’s facility is the latest subsea landing site in a string of strategic
commitment to Oman and the Middle East region. SN1 will be subsea investments for Equinix. In December 2021, the company
the second carrier neutral data center to be built in Oman after announced it had been selected by SUB.CO for the hosting of the
MC1 in Muscat and will be Equinix’s fifth data center in the region 9,800-kilometre Oman-Australia Cable (OAC) into its International
alongside strategic sites in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Once open, Business Exchange™ (IBX®) data centers in Perth, Australia and
SN1 will become a key interconnectivity point for traffic flows Muscat, Oman. Additionally, during 2021, Equinix opened similar
between Asia, Europe, and Africa. “We are delighted to extend cable hosting sites in Genoa and Bordeaux as well as announced
our successful partnership with Equinix through establishing the opening of significant subsea connections with EllaLink in
this new international subsea cable hub in Salalah, which is Portugal and Brazil.
strategically located in the south of Oman, on the coast of the
Arabian Sea”. Talal Al Mamari, Chief Executive Officer of Omantel
stated. “Salalah is the rising star of the Middle East for Asia to
Europe and Africa subsea cable systems passing the region and
is quickly establishing itself as the new main regional strategic
interconnection point. Salalah will be the hub for a connectivity
ecosystem much needed to meet an ever-increasing demand
for onwards connectivity to the Middle East and Africa”. Mr. Al
Mamari concluded. By shortening the length and route of many
highly strategic and important cables in the region, the new
SN1 site in Salalah will change the landscape of global traffic
flows by creating a much more cost-effective route to connect
businesses to the Middle East. The new site will also offer direct
fiber links to Equinix’s MC1 in Muscat, the first carrier-neutral
hub in the Middle East, and enables carriers, content providers
and cloud providers to co-locate critical IT infrastructure in the
region. “We are seizing on this fantastic opportunity to invest in

Omantel AGM Approves Cash Dividends of 55 Baisas Per Share

Director in the presence of board members,
external auditors of the company, the legal
advisor, the observer of the Capital Market
Authority and the shareholders. During
the meeting, the shareholder approved
a proposal to distribute cash dividends
to registered shareholders as of March
27, 2022 (55 Baisas per share). Omantel
AGM also approved the Chairman’s Report
on the company activities and financial
performance for the fiscal year ended
31st December 2021. The meeting also
considered and approved the company
Oman Telecommunications Company company’s HQs at Madinat Al Irfan, under corporate governance report, auditors’
(Omantel) held its Annual General the chairmanship of Mulhim bin Bashir report on the audited financial statements
Assembly Meeting (AGM) Sunday at Al Jarf, Chairman of Omantel Board of for the financial year ended 31st December

36 MARCH-APRIL 2022