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GCC ICT Market Report 2026-2031: 5G/FTTx Build-outs Reaching Over 95% Urban Coverage by 2027

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AMZN AWS Jeddah is mentioned as a hyperscale cloud region build-out, a key driver for the GCC ICT market's growth, indicating strong demand and expansion. ACN Accenture is listed as a company profile in the competitive landscape of the GCC ICT market report, but no specific sentiment or impact is detailed. GOOGL Alphabet (Google) is listed as a company profile in the competitive landscape of the GCC ICT market report, but no specific sentiment or impact is detailed. CSCO Cisco Systems is listed as a company profile in the competitive landscape of the GCC ICT market report, but no specific sentiment or impact is detailed. DELL Dell Technologies is listed as a company profile in the competitive landscape of the GCC ICT market report, but no specific sentiment or impact is detailed. EQIX Equinix is listed as a company profile in the competitive landscape of the GCC ICT market report, but no specific sentiment or impact is detailed. HPE Hewlett Packard Enterprise is listed as a company profile in the competitive landscape of the GCC ICT market report, but no specific sentiment or impact is detailed. HPQ HP Inc. is listed as a company profile in the competitive landscape of the GCC ICT market report, but no specific sentiment or impact is detailed. IBM IBM is listed as a company profile in the competitive landscape of the GCC ICT market report, but no specific sentiment or impact is detailed. MSFT Microsoft is mentioned with Azure Abu Dhabi as a hyperscale cloud region build-out, a key growth driver for the GCC ICT market, suggesting positive impact. ORCL Oracle is listed as a company profile in the competitive landscape of the GCC ICT market report, but no specific sentiment or impact is detailed. PANW Palo Alto Networks is listed as a company profile in the competitive landscape of the GCC ICT market report, but no specific sentiment or impact is detailed. CRM Salesforce is listed as a company profile in the competitive landscape of the GCC ICT market report, but no specific sentiment or impact is detailed. NOK Nokia's MantaRay SON was deployed by Saudi Telecom Company to enhance 5G, indicating a positive technological contribution but not direct company sentiment. CIEN Ciena's WaveLogic 6 was integrated by UAE's e& to boost backbone capacity, showing a positive technological application but not direct company sentiment.

GCC ICT Market Report 2026-2031: 5G/FTTx Build-outs Reaching Over 95% Urban Coverage by 2027 Dublin, March 19, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "GCC ICT - Market Share Analysis, Industry Trends & Statistics, Growth Forecasts (2026-2031)" has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The GCC ICT market, valued at USD 141.32 billion in 2025, is poised for substantial growth from USD 154.58 billion in 2026, reaching an estimated USD 242.07 billion by 2031, with a CAGR of 9.38% during the forecast period. This impressive expansion is driven by strategic digital-economy budgets, hyperscale cloud infrastructure developments, and near-universal 5G rollouts, which collectively spur demand for enhanced connectivity, cloud, and AI services. The structural demand from mandatory digitization of public services shields the GCC ICT market from cyclical fluctuations.

Vision-Led Digital-Economy Budgets Drive Investments

National transformation initiatives are catalyzing long-term demand, with governments dedicating significant funds for cloud, AI, and cybersecurity. For instance, Saudi Arabia committed USD 40 billion to AI and initiated a USD 1 billion accelerator incentivizing local capacity building. The UAE's We the UAE 2031 requires 11 million daily digital interactions, pushing agencies to upgrade core systems, while similar efforts in Qatar, Kuwait, and Oman create steady project pipelines.

5G/FTTx Infrastructure Enhances Digital Service Adoption

Telecommunications operators are targeting ? 95% urban 5G and fiber coverage, facilitating low-latency usages like edge computing and IoT. The Saudi Telecom Company deployed Nokia's MantaRay SON to enhance 5G during peak uses, while the UAE's e& integrated Ciena's WaveLogic 6, boosting backbone capacity. Such advancements position the GCC ICT market for rapid cloud gaming, autonomous mobility, and remote surgery adoption.

Cyber-Skills Gap Challenges Implementation

Despite local efforts to train 20,000 AI professionals, a significant cyber-skills gap remains, inflating costs and delaying project rollouts. Smaller economies face more intensive deficits, weakening cybersecurity frameworks across the market.

Additional market drivers and challenges include:

Segment Analysis

The report, segmented by Component, Enterprise Size, Industry Vertical, Deployment Model, Technology Stack, and Geography, provides forecasts in USD terms.

IT Services held a dominant 45.35% of 2025 revenue, highlighting the preference for full project delivery partners. Hyperscale data-center projects and 5G deployments are driving a 14.55% CAGR in IT Infrastructure, signaling a shift towards cutting-edge hardware and edge offerings essential for AI workloads.

Ooredoo's Kloudville marketplace enables over 400,000 SMEs to access AI, cybersecurity, and ERP tools, facilitating technology democratization. Government support and incubation zones in Dubai Silicon Oasis and Bahrain's FinTech Bay expedite digitalization. Expanding localized AI and no-code platforms promise a growing SME market share across sectors.

Key Topics Covered

1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Study Assumptions and Market Definition

1.2 Scope of the Study

2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

4 MARKET LANDSCAPE

4.1 Market Overview

4.2 Market Drivers

4.2.1 Vision-led digital-economy budgets (Vision 2030, We the UAE 2031)

4.2.2 5G/FTTx build-outs reaching over 95% urban coverage by 2027

4.2.3 Hyper-scale cloud region build-outs (AWS Jeddah, Azure Abu Dhabi, etc.)

4.2.4 Smart-city mega-projects (NEOM, Masdar, Silicon Oasis)

4.2.5 Sovereign-AI capital pools targeting Arab-language LLM stacks

4.2.6 GCC-wide green-hydrogen MoUs lowering data-center energy OPEX

4.3 Market Restraints

4.3.1 Chronic cyber-skills gap-import-dependency greater than 65%

4.3.2 Oil-price cyclicality throttling public-cloud adoption outside KSA/UAE

4.3.3 Water-scarcity constraints on new hyperscale DC cooling loops

4.3.4 Divergent national data-residency mandates raising compliance cost

4.4 Value and Supply-Chain Analysis

4.5 Regulatory Landscape

4.6 Technological Outlook (AI-everywhere, Quantum-ready cryptography)

4.7 Porter's Five Forces Analysis

4.7.1 Bargaining Power of Suppliers

4.7.2 Bargaining Power of Buyers

4.7.3 Threat of New Entrants

4.7.4 Threat of Substitutes

4.7.5 Intensity of Rivalry

4.8 Post-Pandemic Demand Re-Calibration

5 MARKET SIZE AND GROWTH FORECASTS (VALUE)

5.1 By Component

5.1.1 IT Hardware

5.1.1.1 Computer Hardware

5.1.1.2 Networking Equipment

5.1.1.3 Peripherals

5.1.2 IT Software

5.1.3 IT Services

5.1.3.1 Managed Services

5.1.3.2 Business Process Services

5.1.3.3 Business Consulting Services

5.1.3.4 Cloud Services

5.1.4 IT Infrastructure

5.1.5 IT Security

5.1.6 Communication Services

5.2 By Enterprise Size

5.2.1 Small and Medium Enterprises

5.2.2 Large Enterprises

5.3 By Industry Vertical

5.3.1 Government and Public Administration

5.3.2 Banking, Financial Services and Insurance

5.3.3 Energy and Utilities

5.3.4 Retail, E-commerce and Logistics

5.3.5 Manufacturing and Industry 4.0

5.3.6 Healthcare and Life Sciences

5.3.7 Oil and Gas (Up-/Mid-/Down-stream)

5.3.8 Gaming and Esports

5.3.9 Other Verticals

5.4 By Deployment Model

5.4.1 On-premises

5.4.2 Cloud-only

5.4.3 Hybrid

5.5 By Country

5.5.1 Saudi Arabia

5.5.2 United Arab Emirates

5.5.3 Qatar

5.5.4 Oman

5.5.5 Kuwait

5.5.6 Bahrain

6 COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

6.1 Market Concentration

6.2 Strategic Moves

6.3 Market Share Analysis

6.4 Company Profiles (includes Global-level Overview, Market-level Overview, Core Segments, Financials as available, Strategic Information, Market Rank/Share, Products & Services, Recent Developments)

6.4.1 Amazon Web Services Inc.

6.4.2 Accenture plc

6.4.3 Alphabet Inc. (Google LLC)

6.4.4 Cisco Systems Inc.

6.4.5 Dell Technologies Inc.

6.4.6 Emirates Telecommunication Group Company PJSC (e&)

6.4.7 Equinix Inc.

6.4.8 Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co.

6.4.9 HP Inc.

6.4.10 Huawei Investment & Holding Co. Ltd.

6.4.11 International Business Machines Corp.

6.4.12 Microsoft Corp.

6.4.13 Oracle Corp.

6.4.14 Ooredoo Q.P.S.C.

6.4.15 Palo Alto Networks Inc.

6.4.16 Salesforce Inc.

6.4.17 Saudi Telecom Company (stc)

6.4.18 Tata Consultancy Services Ltd.

6.4.19 Wipro Ltd.

6.4.20 Zain Kuwait Telecommunication Co.

7 MARKET OPPORTUNITIES AND FUTURE OUTLOOK

7.1 White-space and Unmet-Need Assessment

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/9giy4f

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