Page 18 - SAMENA Trends - August-September 2025

REGIONAL & MEMBERS UPDATES SAMENA TRENDS

e& Enterprise and Serbia’s Office for IT and eGovernment Ink Landmark
Deal to Strengthen Regional Digital Infrastructure

e& enterprise, the digital transformation enterprise’s global expertise and cloud owned Tier 4 data center with a capacity of
arm of global technology group e&, and ecosystem, we’re setting the stage for 14 MW and 1,080 racks. With land already
the Office for IT and e-Government of the new data-Centre capacity that not only secured for a future expansion block of up
Government of the Republic of Serbia meets Serbian demand but also serves as to 40 MW, Serbia is preparing to scale its
signed a strategic Memorandum of the backbone for every startup, bank and infrastructure to meet increasing national
Understanding (MoU). The agreement AI workload in the Balkans, positioning and regional demand. Through this MoU,
sets a framework for cooperation on Serbia as the regional hub powering e& enterprise and the Office will explore
advanced digital infrastructure projects, digital growth for neighboring markets.” joint opportunities to expand data center
including plans to expand Serbia’s data Dr. Mihailo Jovanović added that the capacity and establish conditions for
center capacity and strengthen the partnership accelerates Serbia’s ambitions Serbia to become a trusted regional host
country’s position as a regional hub for to become a trusted regional hub for EU- for critical workloads, including sovereign
sovereign cloud and digital services. grade sovereign digital infrastructure. “Our government data, hyperscalers, and
The MoU, formalized at e&’s Al Kifaf first Tier-4 build proved we can deliver enterprises. The inked partnership builds
headquarters in Dubai by Khalid Murshed, world-class infrastructure; this next phase, on the momentum of e&’s recent MoU
CEO, e& enterprise, and Dr. Mihailo fueled by e& enterprise’s expertise, gives us with 4iG Group in Hungary. The preliminary
Jovanović, Director of the Office for IT and a stronger platform to expand our capacity, agreement includes the potential for joint
eGovernment of Serbia, is set to triple the attract international partners, and ensure digital infrastructure initiatives in Serbia
country’s current capacity by adding up to that our infrastructure meets the highest and the wider Balkans through e& and
forty megawatts to Serbia’s existing 14- global standards for resiliency and data PPF Telecom, alongside plans for broader
MW Tier-4 campus in Kragujevac. Khalid governance,” he said. “The result will be cooperation across subsea and terrestrial
Murshed said, “Data centers are at the lower latency for citizens, more runway for networks, advanced connectivity, and other
heart of every digital economy, and Serbia entrepreneurs, and a stronger digital spine digital infrastructure projects that link the
has already proven its capability with world- for an entire region.” The Office for IT and Balkans with e&’s Middle East backbone and
class infrastructure, quickly becoming a eGovernment has played a pivotal role in upcoming Africa-1 and other subsea cables,
digital nerve-Centre for Southeast Europe.” advancing Serbia’s digital transformation enabling seamless and secure traffic flows
He noted that “By combining the Office’s since it was established in 2017, including between the MENA region and Europe.
proven eGovernment engine with e& the development of the country’s first state-

18 AUG-SEP 2025