Hossam El-Gamal, CEO of the National Telecom Regulatory Authority (NTRA), said that providing energy sources is one of the most important challenges in the data center industry at the present time.
During his speech at the Future Data Centers Conference (FDC), he added that Egypt has many advantages in this field, including energy resources. This is an opportunity for the Egyptian market to attract these industries, in addition to re-exploiting those resources in a different way through the internal export of energy.
El-Gamal explained that electrical energy can be converted into information energy by providing energy to data centres and exporting it abroad in the form of information energy, after it is reinforced with a set of added values. These values tend to have a great impact on reshaping economic and operational concepts to maximize digital exports and reduce the need for digital imports for the Egyptian market.
He said that there are several advantages in the Egyptian market that prompted local and international companies to hasten to announce their plan to pump investments in this field as soon as the regulatory frameworks for data centers are launched in the Egyptian market, utilizing the integration between the resources in this market such as energy resources, and Egypt’s geographical location. This enables them to connect with international networks through the existing submarine cable network in Egypt.
It is worth noting that data centers are the main nucleus of many applications and surrounding industries, such as the Internet of Things, whose global investments are expected to reach $1.1tn by the end of this year, and artificial intelligence applications, which are expected to reach $733bn by 2027.
Global reports indicate that by the end of 2023, spending on data center systems is expected to reach $222bn, while data center market revenues will reach $342bn.
In his speech, he indicated that advanced technologies that make data, information and network protection more necessary to provide a strong and secure environment make cyber security an urgent necessity, as experts predict that the volume of cyber crime losses will reach $20tn by 2026.
He stressed the keenness of NTRA on building and developing programs to combat malware through the Egyptian Computer Emergency Readiness of NTRA, and cooperate with bodies and centers specialized in the field of developing professionals in the field of cybersecurity, in addition to the establishment of the International Training Center of NTRA. It would provide training and the transferring of expertise in the areas of regulating communications, cybersecurity, and managing vital resources in line with the requirements of the labor market.
