By Eng. Thamer Alfadda, SVP, Mobily Wholesale & Carriers
Mobily is committed to advancing Saudi Arabia’s digital transformation and strengthening its position as a global digital hub, in line with Vision 2030. Through innovative infrastructure and a customer-first approach, we are redefining regional and global connectivity.
Mobily Wholesale has firmly established itself as a key player in both national and international wholesale telecommunications markets through strategic investments, innovation, and a strong customer-centric approach. Its contributions to Saudi Arabia’s digital transformation and Vision 2030 underscore the company's role in building world-class infrastructure and delivering future-ready solutions.
As a pioneer in modernizing Saudi Arabia’s telecom landscape, Mobily has positioned the Kingdom as a digital leader. A major milestone is the recent upgrade of Mobily’s fiber network, significantly boosting high-bandwidth capacity. This advancement supports scalable solutions for artificial intelligence (AI), big data, cloud computing, and machine learning (ML) applications.
Also Read: Mobily Announces Major Investment in Data Centers and Submarine Cables
Strong Wholesale Growth
In 2024, Mobily’s Wholesale Unit delivered strong double-digit year-over-year (YoY) growth, solidifying its role as an important contributor to the company’s overall revenue and performance. This growth reflects the Wholesale Unit’s commitment to enhancing connectivity, forging strategic partnerships, and supporting the digital ecosystem through infrastructure expansion.
The Wholesale Unit strategically focused on expanding global connectivity by collaborating with industry leaders. Through these initiatives, Mobily reinforced its position as a hub for international connectivity and digital innovation. Key achievements included improved regional connectivity, stronger collaborations following the successful Border Expansion Project, and significantly expanded 5G roaming coverage, enhancing customer experiences (CX) across key markets.
Mobily’s Fiber and Subsea Network: Powering the Digital Backbone
Mobily operates one of the most extensive and advanced digital infrastructures in the region, spanning a 60,000-km terrestrial fiber network and six global subsea cable systems. With 15 global points of presence (PoPs), four major landing stations across Saudi Arabia, and nine cross-border connectivity points, Mobily ensures highly resilient, low-latency services tailored to meet growing national and international demand.
The recent upgrade of Mobily’s fiber infrastructure marks a transformational step, enabling scalable, high-bandwidth solutions that support the growing needs of artificial intelligence, big data, cloud computing, and machine learning applications.
Also Read: Mobily and Sparkle Join Forces to Enhance Connectivity Via Submarine Cable Systems
The Hybrid Digital Corridor: A Regional Game-Changer
A key milestone in Mobily's strategic evolution is the launch of its Hybrid Digital Corridor, which integrates subsea and terrestrial infrastructure to create a seamless, secure, and redundant data path. This corridor enhances data transmission between the Middle East, Europe, and Africa, offering alternative, resilient routes for hyperscalers, internet service providers (ISPs), over-the-top (OTT) platforms, and international enterprises.
It serves as a reliable alternative to traditional chokepoints, ensuring uninterrupted traffic flow and helping global partners navigate geopolitical and environmental challenges more effectively.
Data Center Leadership and Digital Hub Vision
Mobily’s ecosystem includes Tier-certified data centers strategically located across the Kingdom. These centers form the foundation of its role as a trusted provider of critical infrastructure supporting cloud services, AI, the Internet of Things (IoT), and latency-sensitive applications.
The Mobily Digital Hub integrates these data centers with the company’s robust terrestrial and subsea network assets. It acts as a vital enabler of secure local and international data exchange, positioning Saudi Arabia as a digital interconnection hub for hyperscalers, content providers, and digital ecosystem players.
Strategic Expansion: Mobily Red Sea Cable (MRSC)
Reinforcing its commitment to cross-border connectivity, Mobily extended its current network, existing cables systems, and extensive international infrastructure to provide more reliable connectivity and meet the rising communication traffic and the large demand for internet services both locally and internationally. Mobily has launched the Mobily Red Sea Cable, the first Saudi-owned submarine cable linking the Kingdom with Egypt. Fully owned by Mobily, and traversing the Red Sea, the cable strengthens the company’s digital corridors, providing multiple connectivity options to Europe and bolstering access to other major subsea systems landing in Egypt.
This initiative adds to Mobily’s existing investments in global subsea infrastructure and demonstrates its commitment to long-term international capacity growth.
Expanding Market Reach and Capabilities
Mobily’s mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) model continues to enable broader market penetration and appeals to diverse demographics. In 2024, Mobily strengthened its MVNO leadership by onboarding Red Bull MOBILE through a six-year agreement. Mobily’s reputation as a preferred MVNO partner is built on high-quality services, exceptional customer experience, and continuous investments in infrastructure.
Further enhancing its offerings, Mobily launched two major services in 2024: The Application-to-Person (A2P) Services to automate communications and boost operational efficiency, and the International Direct Dialing Hub and Carrier Hub services to reinforce Mobily’s leadership in international voice services and strengthen its robust network infrastructure.
Exclusive: Mobily: Powering the Next Generation of Digital Services
Driving Innovation
Mobily’s Wholesale Unit continued to expand its market reach by securing key national and international connectivity agreements in 2024. Strategic collaborations included partnerships with key partners to expand global connectivity, data center capabilities, and digital solution offerings. These efforts, showcased during the Connected World KSA Conference, align with Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 to position the Kingdom as a global digital hub.
Further strengthening its digital ecosystem, Mobily entered a landmark partnership with Mada to provide innovative and advanced digital solutions in the international SMS services sector.
Recognized Excellence in Global Connectivity
Mobily’s excellence in innovation and connectivity was globally recognized in the past year.
The company received the ‘Best Subsea Innovation’ award at the Global Connectivity Awards for its groundbreaking hybrid connectivity and cable landing solutions. Mobily was also honored by Telecom Review as the ‘Best Wholesale Company in the Middle East’ in 2024.
Mobily receives 'Best Wholesale Company Middle East’ at the Telecom Review Excellence Awards
Additionally, Mobily showcased its leadership by sponsoring major industry events such as Capacity Middle East, Capacity Europe, Connected KSA, and the Submarine Networks World Conference, reinforcing its commitment to driving innovation, building industry collaborations, and expanding its global presence.
Enabling the Kingdom’s Vision 2030
Mobily’s infrastructure development is more than technological; it is national in its scope. Through its wholesale business, Mobily is enabling smart cities, digital industries, e-government services, and enterprise transformation in alignment with Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030.
By investing in sustainable, scalable infrastructure, Mobily contributes directly to the Kingdom’s economic diversification and technological advancement goals.
Looking Ahead: Empowering the Future of Digital Transformation
As technologies like AI, IoT, and machine learning redefine industries, the need for secure, high-speed, and scalable connectivity grows ever more urgent. Mobily is meeting this challenge head-on by expanding its subsea footprint, forging global partnerships, and driving innovation across its network, products, and platforms.
Mobily Wholesale’s strategy is clear: deliver next-generation digital infrastructure, innovative wholesale solutions, and tailored connectivity services, while maintaining a relentless focus on customer success.
Through its transformative infrastructure and forward-looking vision, Mobily Wholesale has firmly positioned itself as a key player in both national and international wholesale markets, actively shaping the future of the digital era rather than just adapting to it.
Feature: Beyond Bandwidth: How Wholesale is Revolutionizing Digital Services
