e& and AWS aim to cash in on demand for cloud and AI

They have formed a strategic alliance that combines AWS' cloud infrastructure and services with e&'s network capabilities, pitching them to customers in the public sector and various regulated industries, including finance, healthcare, and oil and gas. They will also target SMEs with the stated aim of democratising access to cloud and AI.

With regards to what AWS and e& are each bringing to the table, suffice to say, it's a heady mix.

AWS' UAE region came online in August 2022, boasting three availability zones, each one consisting of one or more data centres. It was the second cloud region after the 2019 launch in Bahrain. AWS also rolled out a Middle East region in Tel Aviv last year, and is in the process of deploying another in Saudi Arabia. It adds up to a lot of capacity.

Speaking of capacity, e&'s networks have oodles of it, if you'll forgive the technical jargon.

Its residential fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) network offers data-hungry customers the option to sign up to 10-Gbps broadband, provided they have the means to pay the AED2,699 ($735) monthly asking price. That excludes VAT, by the way.

When it comes to mobile, e& earlier this week laid claim to a record-breaking speed of 62 Gbps on its 5G-Advanced network, a feat achieved thanks to the aggregation of "multiple" carriers spanning unspecified high and low-band frequencies. This milestone came less than six months after e&'s last world record of 30.5 Gbps, achieved in May.

Under their strategic alliance, AWS and e& will spend the next six years marketing various wares, such as storage, compute, networking, cybersecurity, and of course AI and machine learning (AI/ML).

e& will also use AWS to enhance some of its own offerings, including its streaming TV service, Starzplay Arabia, and its Careem super app. e& also plans to use AWS' AI tech to improve its smart home services, and e& customers can also earn loyalty points – called Smiles – when shopping on Amazon.

"This agreement with AWS demonstrates our shared long-term strategic goal to create an ecosystem that supports today's digital needs and lays the foundation for future growth. We are enabling businesses across the region to lead in an AI-powered, data-driven economy," said e& group CEO Hatem Dowidar. "By investing in both critical infrastructure and talent development, we're again supporting the region's economy, digital resilience, and, most importantly, its people, who will be instrumental in realising the UAE's vision of becoming a world-leading digital powerhouse."

Tanuja Randery, AWS's EMEA vice president, said the collaboration "marks another significant step in our ongoing investment in the UAE, which has emerged as an international force driving innovation."

"Our security infrastructure and expertise in AI and ML empowers public sector organisations, regulated industries, and enterprises with the tools they need to innovate securely and drive progress across the region," she said.

Indeed, e& and AWS served up a PwC forecast predicting that nearly 70 percent of Middle East companies plan to migrate most of their operations to the cloud within the next two years, and another prediction last year from Telecom Advisory Services that reckons public cloud adoption will unlock $733 billion of economic value by 2033 across the Middle East and North Africa.

With that in mind, it's a no-brainer that e&-AWS would seek to give each other a helping hand.