RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA (March 4): Hong Kong-listed Chinese internet and gaming giant Tencent Holdings Ltd will join forces with Saudi Arabian telecommunications behemoth Etihad Etisalat Company to offer enterprise solutions in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Etihad Etisalat is a telco services company that offers fixed line, mobile telephony and internet services under the brand name Mobily in Saudi Arabia.

Tencent senior executive vice-president Dowson Tong said Tencent Cloud will be officially announcing its partnership with Mobily in the next few days.

“Saudi Arabia is a fast-growing economic hub in the Middle East. We are very excited to invest in the region. We see a lot of opportunities here, and we hope to support the kingdom’s aspirations to become a preferred digital launchpad for global enterprises in the region,” he said in a fireside chat entitled, “In Conversation: Technologies to Build a World Class Business and Entertainment Hub” at the LEAP 2024, a global technology event held at the Riyadh Exhibition and Convention Centre on Monday.

Tong, who is also CEO of Cloud and Smart Industries Group (CSIG), said Tencent Cloud and Mobily will be working together to bring in enterprise solutions for local businesses in Saudi Arabia.

“There are a lot of possibilities to bring technology innovations to the community here. We are still at the early stage in terms of investing in the region. We look forward to doing more with our partners here to serve the local community better,” he said.

Tencent has been invited to participate in the third edition of LEAP, an annual flagship event of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in Saudi Arabia that is recognised as the world’s most attended tech conference.

The Shenzhen-based Tencent operates Weixin — a widely used messaging and payments app in China — and its sister app, WeChat — designed for overseas users.

The group is also one of the world’s largest video game vendors. Among its notable game titles in Southeast Asia are: PUBG Mobile, Valorant, League of Legends, Teamfight Tactics, Call of Duty: Mobile, and Arena of Valor.

Tong said Saudi Arabia’s key economic policies and favourable economic conditions make it a desirable destination for global technology firms like Tencent to play an important role in the development of the digital ecosystem for the benefit of local residents and businesses.

“We see several industries that are booming very fast, especially with the drive of digital transformation. For example, media and entertainment, gaming, media-based apps and video streaming services are powered by cloud technology.

"Moving forward, we could help the tourism, retail and services industries. Obviously, millions of tourists are coming into Saudi and the region, which presents tremendous opportunities for Tencent to bring the virtual world and physical world together. We could make businesses more productive with cloud, big data and artificial intelligence [AI],” he said.

The magic word in the technology space now is AI, said Tong, and Tencent is focusing on where it could deliver value amid the era of digital convergence.

“Today, many businesses operate physical stores, and at the same time, they also have online presence via e-commerce. In the past, these two parts were treated differently even though they were serving the same customers.

"But today, businesses are looking to bridge the gap, and we are enabling them to bring these two worlds together. For example, after customers purchase products at physical stores, we can send them e-vouchers when they get home later,” he said.

Tong further said people are now looking for better social interaction online, and Tencent Cloud has the technology that powered video applications for that.

“For example, you can talk to bankers or bank tellers via a banking app, or you can have fun with your friends remotely using a karaoke app. All these new user experiences are powered by cloud technology,” he said.

Tong said the Western countries and China can learn from each other when it comes to technological development.

“I think we will continue to look for opportunities to bring out what we have learned in China and introduce it to the rest of the world. In fact, we are already one of the largest cloud providers in some countries in Asia.

"Going forward, we are looking at expansion into the Middle East, and Saudi [Arabia] is definitely a very desirable destination. For example, some of our customers in the region are very interested in introducing sub-applications, which are basically what we are doing in WeChat mini programmes,” he said.

By working together with Tencent, said Tong, clients will be able to provide different services from various partners under one super app.

“We have the capability to integrate various platforms and hundreds of public services into one e-government super app. Similarly, if you are a large organisation, you can provide integrated experience for the users. Opportunities like this are a lot in the Middle East.

"We will bring our expertise in China into this region. We will customise and localise our products for other countries. We work with many system integrators and service providers to bring total solutions to our customers to leverage the power of our platform,” he said.

In terms of technological advancement, Tong observed that there are a lot of energy and opportunities in the Kingdom.

“When we talk to some potential partners in the region, they have all the brilliant ideas. Our goal is to bring our technology here so that people can derive value from it. Tencent is a global company. We do believe that by connecting all these dots together, we can serve the community better,” he added.