With the first AWS Wavelength Zones in Morocco and Senegal, customers can build applications using AWS services installed within Orange’s network (https://www.Orange.com) to securely process and store data locally and deliver low-latency user experiences. Organizations in the public and private sector will be able to leverage AWS Wavelength infrastructure and services to take advantage of the security, scalability, and reliability of AWS.

Today, Orange Middle East & Africa (OMEA) and Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS), announced plans to bring AWS Wavelength to Morocco and Senegal later this year, enabling startups, enterprises, and public organizations to securely process and store data locally, leverage AWS services for digital transformation, and build low-latency applications. These are the first AWS Wavelength Zones directly accessible both through wireless and wireline (internet) connections, allowing any customer to deploy and run applications locally on AWS compute and storage located in Orange data centers. AWS Wavelength enables developers to support use cases across high-trust, regulated industries that require data to remain local, such as telecom, finance, public sector, and healthcare, as well as industries that depend on low-latency applications like gaming. Because AWS Wavelength Zones extend AWS services locally, customers can seamlessly connect back to the rest of their applications and the full range of cloud services running in an AWS Region, leveraging the security, scalability, and reliability of AWS.

There is strong demand for cloud services in Africa, with its Infrastructure as a Service & Platform as a Service industries expected to grow by 18% on a yearly basis to reach $13 billion in 20281. According to McKinsey, early indications show that Africa is embracing cloud services, and there are no signs of slowing down2. The new AWS Wavelength Zones will allow customers to take advantage of cloud services and help meet compliance requirements for applications requiring locally-hosted data.

Orange is one of the world’s leading telecommunications operators with a total customer base of 298 million worldwide and a presence in 26 countries, including 18 in Africa and the Middle East. As an AWS Advanced Tier Services Partner, Orange has a strong track record of supporting enterprises on their cloud journeys and will leverage the new local infrastructure capabilities, as well as existing AWS Regions, to foster cloud adoption in Africa. Orange will also be an anchor customer for the AWS Wavelength Zones, running some of its IT workloads in country and helping to accelerate the digital transformation of the company.

Jérôme Hénique, CEO at Orange Middle East and Africa said, “The announcement of AWS Wavelength Zones for North & West Africa is a major achievement in our strategy to foster the cloud transformation of African businesses. We are providing the benefits of AWS to Moroccan and Senegalese organizations, from SMBs to MNCs, while ensuring data residency in secure Orange Datacenters in combination with our best-in-class connectivity solutions.”

Historically, AWS Wavelength Zones have existed in countries with AWS Regions. Today’s announcement showcases a new and evolved AWS Wavelength Zone design to help meet the needs of customers in these emerging geographies, providing the key benefit of bringing AWS services into countries without an AWS Region or AWS Local Zone. Customers can deploy their applications to AWS compute and storage located within Orange’s data centers in Morocco and Senegal, so application traffic only needs to travel from the device to the local AWS Wavelength Zone either via Orange’s network or the network of another mobile or internet service provider. With the new design, customers can deploy applications with low latency and granular data residency controls, providing further choice to help customers address stringent data residency requirements, such as in-country for regulatory, contractual, or security reasons. The work together will also strengthen local digital businesses and startups, by encouraging innovation and offering simplified access to cloud services and development tools.

“The deployment of AWS Wavelength Zones in North and West Africa, in collaboration with Orange, will further empower customers in growing geographies with local AWS services,” said Jan Hofmeyr, vice president of EC2 Edge at AWS. “Customers of all sizes and all industries in Morocco and Senegal will be able to access local AWS compute and storage for data residency, low latency, and security needs for applications across real-time gaming and regulated industries, helping customers unlock new innovation and accelerate digital transformation.”

AWS is the most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud, offering more services than any other cloud provider with the most proven operational and security expertise. AWS Wavelength Zones will run a broad range of AWS services, including Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2), Amazon Elastic Block Store (Amazon EBS), Amazon Elastic Container Service (Amazon ECS), Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Services (Amazon EKS), Amazon CloudWatch, Amazon EMR, and Application Load Balancer as part of Elastic Load Balancing (ELB). With AWS Wavelength, customers can use the same AWS APIs, tools, and functionality they are familiar with to build their applications.

Swarmio is a telco-grade gaming technology provider that offers unparalleled solutions that elevate the gaming experience and drive revenue for both telcos and game publishers. “There is a dynamic and growing gamer community in Africa, including Morocco and Senegal, and we want to provide them with advanced gaming experiences but run into technical hurdles involving locally available cloud services,” said Vijai Karthigesu, CEO and Founder of Swarmio. “AWS Wavelength will help us transform the worldwide gaming landscape by combining the power of AWS with our Swarmio Edge platform to provide an unmatched, low-latency experience that allows creators to connect and delights global game publishers and developers.”