News

Cisco Boosts Investment & Digitization In Saudi Arabia

The tech giant unveiled plans for a new regional headquarters in Riyadh and announced the third phase of its Country Digital Acceleration (CDA) Program.

Published

2 years ago

March 5, 2024

Nour Nasir

cisco boosts investment and digitization in saudi arabia

At LEAP 2024, digital communications technology giant Cisco revealed new strategic initiatives in Saudi Arabia that will grow the company’s long standing presence in the region and reaffirm its commitment to local customers. Based on a Regional Headquarters license issued by the Ministry of Investment in 2023, Cisco unveiled plans for a new regional head office in Riyadh and the beginning of the third phase of its Country Digital Acceleration (CDA) Program.

HE Vice Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Eng. Haitham bin Abdul Rahman Al-Ohali commented: “Technology is a key enabler in achieving the Saudi Vision 2030. Investments of global tech players like Cisco play a crucial role in strengthening our technology landscape, [bringing] the Kingdom forward on its path to a diversified, knowledge-based economy”.

As well as a brand new headquarters, Cisco’s Country Digital Acceleration (CDA) Program will align with the goals of the Saudi Research and Development National Strategy, focusing on Health and Wellness, Sustainable Environment & Affordable Supply of Essential Needs, Energy & Industrial Leadership, and Economies of the Future.

First launched in Saudi Arabia in 2016, the CDA program has supported digitization and helped to develop innovation in sectors including healthcare, education, smart cities, and government digitization. Cisco has now trained over 335,000 people in the Kingdom on cybersecurity, programming, and networking while also collaborating with King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Authority for Data and Artificial Intelligence (SDAIA), and Vision 2030 Giga Projects.

Also Read: Fintech In The UAE Is Set To Add $900 Per Capita By 2030

“Today’s announcements reinforce Cisco’s commitment to support the digital ecosystem in Saudi Arabia,” explained Salman Faqeeh, Managing Director, Cisco Saudi Arabia. “I am proud of what we have achieved through our longstanding presence in the Kingdom and via our active programs like CDA and Cisco Networking Academy, and I am looking forward to more milestones. With our technologies spanning every IT and business objective, from networking to security, collaboration, monitoring, application development, and more, Cisco continues to be at the heart of driving digitization together with our customers and partners”.

News

Samsung And Spotify Offer Free Premium Deal In MENA

Nearly seven in ten streams in the region come from 18-to-34-year-olds — the audience Samsung is hoping to entice into its ecosystem.

Published

6 days ago

August 7, 2026

Nour Nasir

Samsung

Samsung has announced a partnership with Spotify spanning the Middle East, North Africa, and Türkiye, bundling Spotify Premium with select devices across its ecosystem. The headline offer — up to four months of Premium for free — is a first for the region.

Customers in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Türkiye who buy any OLED or 98-inch television, or any Galaxy S or Z series mobile device, get four months of Spotify Premium. The offer, tiered by market and device, is available at retail and on Samsung.com, and redeemed through the Samsung Promotion and Samsung Members apps.

For Samsung, the strategy is less about free music than about lock-in. The Korean tech giant’s pitch is continuity: a track starts on a Galaxy smartphone through Galaxy Buds on the commute, moves to a Samsung TV and soundbar in the living room, and stays controllable from a Galaxy Watch. The more seamlessly music travels between those devices, the harder it becomes to swap any one of them for a rival’s.

“Technology should bring people closer to the things they love, and few things connect people the way music does,” said Omar Saheb, Regional VP of Marketing and Online Business at Samsung Electronics MENA. The partnership, he added, gives customers “a genuine reason to choose Samsung for the experience, not only the product”.

Also Read: Shokz OpenFit Pro Review: Open-Ear Audio Finally Grows Up

For subscribers, Premium brings the usual package: ad-free listening, offline downloads, richer audio quality on Galaxy Buds and Samsung sound devices, and Jam, which lets friends build a shared queue.

“At Spotify, we are always working to make every listening moment feel more personal, meaningful, and worth it,” said Rami Jamal, Head of Partnerships at Spotify for South Asia, Middle East, and Africa.

The demographics go a long way to explaining the strategy. Across MENA, Türkiye, and Pakistan, nearly seven in ten Spotify streams come from listeners aged 18 to 34, according to the company — precisely the audience Samsung wants inside its hardware ecosystem before buying habits harden.