Omantel ties with Wingu Group to expand into African market

In a move to expand into the African market, Omantel has signed an agreement with Wingu Group’s Djibouti Data Centre.

Through the partnership, Omantel will open up new markets in Africa and will extend its reach through the AAE-1, EIG, and MENA cable systems landing in Oman (Salalah) and Djibouti, as well as new cable systems soon to be announced.

Wingu Group’s Djibouti Data Center was the first and only carrier-neutral data centre facility in East Africa with access to all major international fiber optic systems connecting Europe, the Middle East, and Asia Pacific regions with Africa.

Apart from providing access to the African market, Omantel’s Point of Presence (POP) in Djibouti will help forge new wholesale partnerships with operators and hyperscalers, improve the utilisation of connectivity between Oman and Africa, facilitate better commercial models that will lead to business growth and enable better support for customers with connectivity requests to and from Africa.

Speaking about the partnership, Sohail Qadir, Vice President of the Wholesale Business Unit at Omantel, said: “As a global wholesale player, Omantel is always on the lookout for new market opportunities. Our new partnership with Wingu Group’s Djibouti Data Center presents us with a great opportunity to solidify our presence in Africa. It will help us attract more customers to connect to and from Africa, resulting in an enhanced customer experience and new business opportunities for Omantel and Djibouti Data Center. This is indeed another important milestone of fulfilling our wholesale vision: from Oman to the World.”

Demos Kyriacou, Deputy CEO & Chief Operating Officer at Wingu Group, the owner and operator of Djibouti Data Center (DDC), added: “We pride ourselves on creating a strategic gateway to East and Southern Africa. We are pleased to cement this partnership with a prestigious global player like Omantel. A collaboration of this nature will trigger greater connectivity in the region and inspire more global players to collocate in our Djibouti data centre. We are very happy that the Djibouti Data Center has cemented itself as a reliable and cost-effective gateway hub to many of the fastest-growing markets and service providers in Africa. The interest from such world-class players as Omantel has prompted us to begin construction on a second facility, which will provide, uniquely in Djibouti, our clients with integrated Cable Landing Stations and carrier-neutral data centre.”