Page 70 - SAMENA Trends - January-February 2025

REGIONAL & MEMBERS UPDATES SAMENA TRENDS

Egypt Prioritizes ICT Training to Drive Digital Transformation

President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi convened positioning Egypt as a leading destination destination for digital service investments,
a meeting with government officials for digital service investments, leveraging its including software development,” stated
to discuss initiatives aimed at training strategic advantages and qualified talent. A the report, emphasizing Egypt’s ambition
professionals in communications, key highlight of the meeting was the “Digital to become a global tech hub. The “Digital
information technology, and software Pioneers” initiative, which aims to provide Pioneers” initiative will be accessible to
development. The meeting emphasized young Egyptians with free scholarships all citizens, regardless of their academic
the importance of developing a skilled and training in various ICT fields. This background, promoting inclusivity and
workforce to support Egypt’s digital program will offer comprehensive training expanding opportunities for those
transformation and economic growth. The in technical, practical, and language skills, interested in pursuing a career in the ICT
discussions focused on Egypt’s efforts to preparing graduates for careers in high- sector. President El-Sisi also underscored
enhance its digital infrastructure, improve demand areas such as AI, data science, the importance of Egypt’s transition to
the quality of communication services, cybersecurity, and software development. a fully integrated digital society. This
and attract investment in the ICT sector. “The meeting also addressed the goal includes fostering a skilled workforce of
President El-Sisi stressed the importance of of positioning Egypt as a leading global independent professionals, expanding
training opportunities, and enhancing
digital capabilities through technology
schools and Egypt Digital Creativity Centers.
“President Al-Sisi also underscored the
importance of Egypt’s transition to a
fully integrated digital society, focusing
on fostering independent professionals,
expanding training opportunities, and
enhancing digital capabilities through
technology schools and Egypt Digital
Creativity Centers,” stated the report,
highlighting the comprehensive approach
to digital skills development.

Bangladesh to Establish First Green Data Centre to Boost Investment and

Services

Bangladesh is set to establish its first green to short-term investor confidence. Despite of two new subsea cables—SeaMeWe-6
data centre near the port city of Chattogram, challenges, Bangladesh’s mobile network and the Bangladesh Private Cable System—
aimed at attracting foreign investment and operators (MNOs) have seen significant set to be operational by 2026, will enhance
offering cost-effective services. The Asian growth in mobile data revenues, with mo- the country’s international bandwidth ca-
Development Bank (ADB) has partnered bile data contributing significantly to total pacity, fostering growth in the data centre
with the Bangladeshi government to set up sales. Bangladesh’s fixed broadband con- sector. Several Asian data-centre firms are
the centre, which will be developed under nections have been growing, with 13.7 mil- already investing in Bangladesh to build
a public-private partnership (PPP) model. lion connections in Q3 2024. The addition new facilities.
The project will use renewable energy and
be supported by two new subsea cables.
Currently, Bangladesh lacks an established
data centre market, with most existing
facilities in Dhaka being outdated and un-
able to modernize. Chattogram’s larger
land areas and power resources make it
an ideal location for advanced data-cen-
tre development. The country’s growing
mobile-connectivity network and favour-
able demographic profile are expected to
drive increased demand for data centres.
However, political instability poses a risk

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