STC Group announces Bahrain data center park and inaugurates 2Africa extension
By Niva Yadav, Data Center Dynamics
November 13, 2024
STC Group subsidiaries STC Bahrain and Center3 have announced the construction of a data center park in the Kingdom of Bahrain and the inauguration of the 2Africa Pearl subsea cable system.
The two projects will see a total investment of $300 million in a bid to expand STC Group’s international footprint and support Bahrain’s 2030 Economic Vision.
Set on a 55,000 sqm site, the data center park is currently under construction in Al Qurain. Once complete, it is set to provide 60MW of IT capacity and will align with the Kingdom’s commitment to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2060.
Timelines for the data center have not been shared.
The companies also inaugurated the 2Africa Pearl submarine cable system; a cable extension for the 45,000km 2Africa cable system.
The 2Africa Pearl submarine cable extends from Bahrain to Oman, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Iraq, Pakistan, India, and Saudi Arabia.
Plans for the extension were announced in 2021, with STC Bahrain confirmed as the landing partner in February last year.
The cable offers a capacity of 180 Tbps with the system set to go live later this year.
STC Group, the parent company of Saudi Telecom, has already committed to transforming digital infrastructure in Saudi Arabia, partnering with Korea Telecom and Hyundai for the initiative.
STC’s infrastructure subsidiary Center3 currently operates eight data centers in and around the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The company recently partnered with DataVolt to expand data center operations in Saudi Arabia.
Earlier this week, Batelco and Qareeb announced plans for a data center facility in Bahrain.
