Kuwait has awarded one of its largest digital infrastructure contracts to Bahrain’s Beyon Group, selecting the Bahrain Bourse-listed telecoms company to develop the country’s national fixed telecommunications network through a public-private partnership with a total expected investment of approximately KD825 million, equivalent to $2.7 billion, over a 50-year partnership term. The contract was awarded by Kuwait’s communications ministry and the Kuwait Authority for Partnership Projects following a technical, financial and legal evaluation process that included competition among regional and international specialised companies and consortia.
The project includes a comprehensive re-engineering of Kuwait’s national telecommunications network, including the development of next-generation network systems and the gradual decommissioning of the legacy copper network. The project will be financed and developed by Beyon and will not impose a financial burden on the state of Kuwait. The decommissioning of Kuwait’s copper-based infrastructure and its replacement with next-generation fibre and digital systems is a foundational step for the country’s digital ambitions, as legacy copper networks impose hard limits on the speeds, reliability, and service quality that can be delivered to residential and commercial users, regardless of investment in other layers of the technology stack.
Kuwait’s Minister of State for communication affairs Omar Al Omar said the investments are aimed at building sustainable and modern digital infrastructure, including cloud computing, artificial intelligence, smart cities and a knowledge-based economy aligned with the 2035 vision. Acting undersecretary of the communications ministry Mishal Al Zaid said the project will improve the reliability and capacity of the national network, reduce service disruptions and enable service providers to offer more advanced and efficient digital solutions. The alignment with Kuwait’s 2035 economic vision is significant, as the country has been actively seeking to reduce its near-total dependence on oil revenues, which account for approximately 90 percent of government income and roughly half of gross domestic product, by building a more diversified private-sector economy underpinned by modern digital infrastructure.
Beyon Group, which is listed on the Bahrain Stock Exchange, counts Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding Company as a 37 percent shareholder. The selection of a Bahraini company for one of Kuwait’s most consequential infrastructure projects underlines the deepening integration of the Gulf Cooperation Council’s technology and telecommunications sectors, as regional players increasingly compete for and win large-scale government digital transformation contracts across their neighbour states. For Beyon, the Kuwait PPP represents a transformative commercial opportunity, with a 50-year contract horizon providing the kind of long-term revenue visibility that justifies the significant upfront capital commitment required to replace a national telecommunications network at scale.
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