Egypt to host Huawei’s first MENA cloud platform: Cairo

Egypt will host Chinese telecom company Huawei’s first cloud data platform in the Middle East and North Africa, Egypt’s telecom ministry said in a statement. “Huawei will create its own cloud computing through the data centre of Telecom Egypt”, a statement by the ministry said Monday, referring to the North African country’s state owned telecom company.

The two firms signed a memorandum of understanding to establish Huawei’s “first cloud computing in Africa and the Middle East” on the sidelines of the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the statement added.Cloud computing technology is a means of storing and accessing data over the internet instead of on hardware devices.

Huawei is a major seller of handsets in Egypt. Egypt’s telecom ministry said the MoU with Huawei covers only “services to individuals and small and medium enterprises” and does not extend to governmental services. In the last year, the United States has stepped up pressure on its allies to block Huawei from building 5G networks, alleging its technology could be exploited by China’s government to carry out espionage -- a claim strongly denied by the telecom giant.