Akamai Technologies : Selevision teams with du and Akamai to enhance the delivery of digital content in the MENA region

Dubai, United Arab Emirates - January 21, 2015 - du, the region's fastest-growing telecommunications company and Akamai Technologies have announced that Selevision, the leading Saudi Arabian on demand service provider, has selected the companies' content delivery services to support over-the-top delivery of its channels throughout the MENA region.

As part of the agreement, du's broadcasting services division will provide first class Content Delivery Network (CDN) services from Akamai to Selevision, thereby ensuring consistent quality of experience for their subscribers in the region. In addition, du will also offer IP transit service to Selevision, hosted at datamena.

Fahad Al Hassawi, Chief Commercial Officer, du, said: "Our strength lies in offering an end-to-end service portfolio, from hosting content in our world-class data centres to delivering it. In partnership with Akamai, which offers a full suite of industry-leading media delivery solutions, we are delighted to provide Selevision with a best of class CDN and IP transit services and so enable them to meet the growing demand of digital content in the MENA and beyond."

Earlier in September, through datamena's head-end system in Dubai, and in partnership with du, Selevision had established its own platform capable of delivering up to 400 channels, both HD and SD.

Dr. Raed Khusheim, Chief Executive Officer of Selevision said: "Our aim is to provide utmost quality of service throughout the market, thus, we decided to work with Akamai and du, whose solution is considered to be amongst the best worldwide. This will ensure seamless experience for the end-user on services such as restart TV, Catch-up TV and On Demand services."

Soeren Lindkvist, Vice President Scandinavia, Benelux & MENA, Akamai said: "In collaboration with du, we are excited to be able to extend our services to broadcasters in the MENA region. We are looking forward to helping Selevision provide high quality online experiences and ensure its viewers can enjoy their favorite content wherever and whenever they want."

About du
We opened for business in 2006. We offer mobile and fixed telephony, broadband connectivity and IPTV services to individuals, homes and businesses. We also provide carrier services for businesses and satellite up/downlink services for TV broadcasters. As a rapidly-growing enterprise, we have a team of experts working to enhance and expand our bouquet of service offerings. Our people come from over 60 countries - we mirror the rich cultural diversity of our nation, while being able to serve our customers in a variety of languages.

We remain committed to providing fulfilling opportunities for quality talent in a cosmopolitan working environment. By the end of Q1 2014, more than 7.5 million individual customers and over 80,000 businesses have chosen to use our services. In 2013 we were awarded the Dubai Chamber CSR Label for the second year in recognition of our continuing commitment to CSR best practice and the Small Energy Award - Golden Category at Emirates Energy Award for our LEED platinum-certified Fujairah retail shop. We were also awarded with the Premier Plan Best Business Service commsMEA awards in 2013 and the award Best Cloud Provider for Datamena at Telecom Review Industry Awards.

du is 39.5 percent owned by Emirates Investment Authority, 20.08 percent by Mubadala Development Company PJSC, 19.5 percent by Emirates Communications and Technology LLC and the remaining stake by public shareholders. du is listed on the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) and trades under the name 'du'.

About Akamai
Akamai® is the leading provider of cloud services for delivering, optimizing and securing online content and business applications. At the core of the Company's solutions is the Akamai Intelligent Platform™ providing extensive reach, coupled with unmatched reliability, security, visibility and expertise. Akamai removes the complexities of connecting the increasingly mobile world, supporting 24/7 consumer demand, and enabling enterprises to securely leverage the cloud. To learn more about how Akamai is accelerating the pace of innovation in a hyperconnected world, please visit www.akamai.com or blogs.akamai.com.