Vice-President of Business Development at QFC, Jahongirbek Burhonov
Qatar’s digital industry is poised for rapid growth fueled by strategic projects envisaging investment of over $80bn in the next few years, an official of Qatar Financial Centre (QFC) said yesterday.
Speaking at the QFC’s webcast series #AccessQatar, Vice-President of Business Development at QFC, Jahongirbek Burhonov, also said that Qatar’s digital spending is currently among the fastest growing digital markets in the Mena region at 8-9 percent. The country also has 12 times higher per capita digital spending of over $750 compared to the Middle East and Africa average.
“Qatar’s digital spending in 2019 was $2.1-2.3bn and is expected to grow to $3-3.2bn by 2023. Consumption of digital products is very high. That tells you as a digital player that you have a ready market to consume your services,” he added.
Burhonov was speaking on the topic of digitalisation projects as one of the key aspects on ‘Emerging Opportunities: Qatar & Malaysia’, which was also attended by Malaysia’s Ambassador to Qatar H E Zamshari Shaharan and Chief Executive Officer at QFC, Yousuf Mohammed Al Jaida.
According to Burhonov, the country offers multi-billion dollar digital opportunities which run across operational, digital transformation, and strategic projects. This include opportunities in software licensing, cloud migration, as well as the $1.65bn worth country-wide digital iniative TASMU which is being spearheaded by the Ministry of Transport and Communications (MoTC), and the upcoming FIFA World Cup 2022.
Speaking about the $80bn strategic digital projects in the country, he said the Smart City projects in Msheireb and Lusail feature digital projects worth over $50bn. This includes building and facility management system, safety and security systems, autonomous vehicles and fleet management, and traffic management system.
Over $10bn has also been invested in digital projects for the upcoming FIFA World Cup, which will feature venue based and in-stadium technology, digital fan experience and engagement, athlete management systems, and e-gaming.
Qatar Petroleum’s TAWTEEN programme has also invested $120m for its digital projects, which include predictive maintenance, inventory optimisation, and cyber security controls. Also, over $4bn has been invested in the Doha Metro’s Phase 2 to build a driverless metro network and Lusail Tram, Burhonov added.
He went on to say that the Hamad International Airport has invested over $3bn for its Phase 2 expansion project to deploy e-record and recognition systems and self check-in kiosk; while the Hamad Port has invested over $7.4bn for the Hamad Port 2 to deploy smart technologies like vessel traffic management and Terminal OS. The Energy City also invested over $2.6bn for the Energy City Phase 2’s integrated communication system and upcoming data centre.
Some of the other state-of-the-art ICT infrastructures to look forward to are the upcoming Microsoft Azure and Google data centres, he added.
“The Qatari government is leading the digitisation of Qatar’s ecosystem accounting for bulk of digital spending. Digital spending in Qatar is led by verticals like Defense & Security, Energy & Utilities, Industrial Logistics & Transportation, Telecom, Consumer Products, and Sports, among others. While some of the leading technology segments in Qatar include Cloud Computing, Cyber Security, IoT, Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, IT Consulting, System Integration, Custom Application Design, E-commerce, and others,” Burhonov added.
During the event, Trade Commissioner from the Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE), Omar Salleh, spoke about the growing momentum of ICT in Qatar and the reasons ‘why the country is one of the favourite destinations of the big ICT players in the world’.
He said Qatar’s cloud service segment is predicted to increase to $111m over the same period, a sizeable 226 percent increase from 2019. Smart City component sales are projected to rise from $172.5m in 2018 to $573m by 2022. The software market and ITC service market will grow to $425.4m and more than $274.4m respectively, by 2021.
Speaking earlier at the opening of the webcast, Al Jaidah said: “The outbreak of COVID-19 has been more of a catalyst that accelerated the growth of many sectors and brought it into centre stage of the business communities worldwide. On top of which is the digital sector. Currently, more than ever, we’re all witnessing the critical importance of ICT amid the COVID crisis, whereby businesses, citizens, and governments alike are turning to digital solutions to keep afloat. And Qatar has long been atuned to the value of this industry. During and well before COVID-19, the country has been investing in state-of-the-art ICTs and digital infrastructure, skills development, and commitment to e-government transformation”.
