center3, a leading digital infrastructure provider in the Middle East, has entered a strategic partnership with stc Bahrain to develop a new terrestrial interconnection.
This route will link the 2Africa Pearls cable landing station and data center in Bahrain with all the center3 cable landing stations in Saudi Arabia and its data center footprint.
The partnership enables seamless terrestrial connectivity from Bahrain to key center3 landing stations on the Red Sea, including Jeddah, Yanbu, Duba, and Haql.
Additionally, the route connects directly to center3’s carrier-neutral data centers in Riyadh, Jeddah, and Dammam, providing customers with a resilient, high-capacity pathway for onward connectivity to Asia, Africa, and Europe through center3’s integrated subsea ecosystem. This includes major systems such as 2Africa, Saudi Vision Cable (SVC), IEX, and upcoming northern routes.
“This partnership represents a step forward in our mission to create an integrated, secure, and low-latency digital infrastructure platform across the region,” said Fahad AlHajeri, CEO of center3.
Khalid Al-Osaimi CEO – stc Bahrain
“By leveraging our regional assets and stc Bahrain’s capabilities, we are enabling customers to interconnect between key landing points and data centers across Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, without relying on congested maritime routes.”
This terrestrial connectivity is based on fully protected, diverse, scalable high capacity, high-capacity fiber routes to meet the demands of hyperscalers, carriers, OTT platforms, enterprises, and other ecosystem players. It aligns with the shared strategic vision of positioning Saudi Arabia and Bahrain as key East-West interconnection gateways for the Middle East.
The data center in Bahrain, currently under construction and scheduled for completion by late 2025, will deliver 9.6MW of ICT capacity initially, scalable up to 60MW. It will serve as a critical node in stc Group’s expanding regional platform, offering direct integration with the 2Africa Pearls cable system and the broader center3 digital ecosystem.
