RIYADH: Saudi Telecom launched a vast digital operations center on Monday to boost the Kingdom’s cyber defenses as it rolls out super-fast broadband.
It is the largest facility of its kind in the Middle East and North Africa, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
The center will have a capacity exceeding 8.4 terabits per second (tbps), and will be linked to more than 4 submarine cables, used for the first time in the region.
“The center will strengthen the Saudi position as a leading regional center for business 'HUB,' and represents a basic building block for the company to be a regional center with a system of digital services in MENA,” Saudi Telecom CEO Nasser Sulaiman Al-Nasser said.
It is equipped with the largest and most modern cybersecurity operations center in the region, run by highly skilled experts, the telecoms company said.
STC has worked on a plan to build a superfast 5G network in more than 47 cities around Saudi Arabia, which will be expanded to include more than 71 cities, in the next phase, Nasser said.
Regional governments are investing heavily in superfast broadband networks while at the same time shoring up their cyber defences to counter a rise in threats from both nation state hackers as well as criminal gangs.
