Telecom Egypt implements IBM hybrid cloud to transform operations

Telecom Egypt (TE), one of the largest integrated telecommunications operators in the country, has turned to IBM and Red Hat to help develop an open, hybrid cloud strategy that is intended to modernise its operations and accelerate its digital transformation journey.

The telco can trace its history all the way back to the birth of Egypt’s telecommunications industry and the inauguration of the first telegraph line connecting Cairo and Alexandria in 1854. It installed the first telephone line between the two cities in 1881.

In its current formation, Telecom Egypt’s mission is to shape the future of telecommunications services in the region through what it calls world-class customer centricity, attraction and retention while maximising shareholder value.

As part of its strategy for growth, Telecom Egypt is reinventing its infrastructure to be based on open, hybrid cloud technology to gain more flexible deployment options and drive innovation to meet the needs of its enterprise customers. This will see it adopt IBM Cloud Pak for Automation built on Red Hat OpenShift to become more efficient, flexible and future-ready to support core operations and enable new digital services.

Telecom Egypt has implemented IBM Cloud Pak for Automation to infuse artificial intelligence (AI) into its workflows to provide the flexibility to scale automation projects quickly, across any cloud or on-premise environment. Telecom Egypt said the technology would enable it to more easily modernise existing core systems for faster and more agile operations and reduce maintenance time by automating operational processes to provide better customer experiences and improve quality of service.

“As part of Telecom Egypt’s strategy to modernise infrastructure and provide customers with the highest level of capabilities, we turned to IBM as our preferred partner to help us accelerate our digital transformation journey,” said the telco’s CEO, Adel Hamed.

“The Covid-19 pandemic has led all organisations to rethink their businesses and change the way they work. Due to the increased pressure on our network throughout Egypt during this critical time, we implemented IBM Cloud Pak for Automation to accelerate our network performance and provide our customers with reliable services throughout this period of high demand.”

Aiming to fulfil its vision and become a regional cloud hub in Egypt, Telecom Egypt also turned to IBM Global Business Services and its partner ecosystem to deliver the first datacentre with access to all the global submarine cable systems that land in Egypt.

The facility will be Telecom Egypt’s main platform for the provision of cloud services across the region, aiming to host local and global players by providing next-generation business services with the highest levels of availability and technical resiliency. IBM designed, built and provided project management, maintenance and managed services to create a new, highly resilient datacentre for Telecom Egypt.

“The telecoms industry is transforming as organisations look for new ways to modernise their operations through open, hybrid cloud technologies that enable them to build more resilient businesses and provide agile services to their clients,” said Wael Abdoush, general manager at IBM Egypt.

“Our work with Telecom Egypt will help speed the next chapter of its hybrid cloud journey with an open and secure cloud architecture that will deliver new value and greater digital advancement for its core business and customers.”