Beyon has announced a major investment of more than USD 250M in state-of-the-art digital infrastructure helping to support the acceleration of Bahrain’s digital transformation and the growth of the country’s digital economy, in a press conference attended by Beyon Chairman Shaikh Abdulla bin Khalifa Al Khalifa.
The Bahrain Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) General Director Mr. Phillip Marnick and SEA-ME-WE 6 Management Committee Chairperson Mr. Yue Meng Fai were also in attendance at the event, which took place at Centraal, Beyon Campus, Hamala, Kingdom of Bahrain on May 16th, 2023.
During the event, Beyon CEO Mikkel Vinter announced that Batelco, part of the Beyon group, has joined the SEA-ME-WE 6 (Southeast Asia – Middle East – Western Europe) consortium, which is building a 21,700 km-long undersea telecommunications cable system connecting Bahrain with 14 other countries.
Additionally, Batelco is investing to build a regional subsea cable, the ‘Al Khaleej’ Cable which the Company will fully own, enhancing the region’s data exchange. Beyon’s CEO also announced Data Oasis, which will be the biggest technology hub in the Kingdom of Bahrain and include a newly built advanced Data Centre for the Company.
SEA-ME-WE 6 Superhighway Connecting the Middle East to Southeast Asia and Western Europe
The SEA-ME-WE 6 cable system, offering one of the lowest latencies available between the Middle East, Southeast Asia and Western Europe will significantly boost Beyon’s global network infrastructure. SEA-ME-WE 6 will have the capability of transferring more than 100 terabits per second. The new subsea cable will create a layer of network diversity and resilience for the heavily used routes connecting the Middle East towards Europe and Asia.
Al Khaleej Cable, the Company’s Fully Owned Subsea Cable
Batelco is also investing in the Al Khaleej Subsea Cable, to extend from Bahrain to other regional countries including Oman, UAE and Qatar. This fully owned subsea cable will help to diversify routes and augment international connectivity for the region.
Beyon Data Oasis Announced Incorporating Advanced Data Centre
Another major initiative supporting the ever-growing data movement was also announced. Beyon is developing Bahrain’s biggest and most advanced Data Centre that will be located within Beyon Data Oasis, being developed on a 140K Sq. Mts. site located in the south of Bahrain.
Beyon Data Oasis will incorporate the SEA-ME-WE 6 and the Al Khaleej cables into the Data Centre, therefore enabling hyperscalers and businesses to access seamless integrated solutions and helping to strengthen Bahrain’s position as a leading regional technology hub.
Furthermore, the new Data Centre will feature multiple Megawatt power capacity and utilize clean power technologies provided by the Company’s Solar Park, aligning with its sustainability plans to increase alternative power sources.
Beyon Chairman Shaikh Abdulla bin Khalifa Al Khalifa praised the major announcements that were made today, noting that a robust connectivity infrastructure is central to the growth of the digital economy and that these major initiatives will support the acceleration of the digital future for Bahrain in line with the Kingdom’s vision 2030.
Beyon CEO Mikkel Vinter said,
“Beyon is delighted to join hands with other leading international communication companies and join the SEA-ME-WE 6 cable consortium which will support and strengthen connectivity in the region. We are also pleased to reaffirm our commitment to building state-of-the-art facilities that help to attract global tech companies plus leading local and regional companies, by building Beyon’s new Data Centre, which will be the biggest in Bahrain.”
In addition to Beyon in Bahrain, the SMW6 consortium includes its sister company Dhiraagu in the Maldives and additionally Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company, Bharti Airtel (India), China Unicom, Djibouti Telecom, Mobily (Saudi Arabia), Orange (France), Singtel (Singapore), Sri Lanka Telecom, Telecom Egypt, TM ( Malaysia), Telin (Indonesia) and Trans World Associates (Pakistan).
The SEA-ME-WE 6 submarine cable connectivity to Bahrain and Al Khaleej Cable are expected to be completed by Q2 2026.
Featured image credit: Shaikh Abdulla bin Khalifa Al Khalifa Beyon Chairman, General Director Mr. Phillip Marnick, Mr. Yue Meng Fai, SEA-ME-WE 6 Management Committee Chairperson, Mikkel Vinter CEO of Beyon, Phillip Marnick, TRA General Director
