The UAE spends 74 billion dirhams on communications and information in 2023, with a growth of 4.5% for technology and 1% for communications.

The volume of UAE spending this year on communications and information technology amounts to about 74 billion dirhams (20.2 billion dollars), distributed by about 44.7 billion dirhams (12.2 billion dollars) on technology, with a growth of 4.5%, and about 29.3 billion dirhams (8 billion dollars), with a growth of 1%. on the fixed and mobile telecommunications sector, compared to the year 2022, according to the expectations of the International Data Corporation (IDC).

IDC announced its expectations that spending on information and communication technology in the region, Turkey and Africa will exceed $233.8 billion this year, a growth of 3.9% compared to 2022, during a conference it held in Dubai on Wednesday, in the presence of more than 400 senior executives of technology and communications companies at the global level. Region.
IDC revealed its expectations for an increase in the level of spending on telecommunications services in the region, Africa and Turkey by 3.6% on an annual basis during 2023, to $ 133.9 billion, in conjunction with expectations that the volume of spending on information technology will grow by 4.3% on an annual basis to $ 99.9 billion. dollar.
Jyoti Lalchandani, Vice President and General Manager of the International Data Corporation (IDC) Group in the region, said in a press statement on the sidelines of the conference: The growth of spending on communications and information technology in the UAE is due to the country’s continuation of its strategic directions towards a knowledge-based economy based on information and digitization in All sectors, and the private sector is following the same trends this year.
He stressed that the UAE’s spending on communications and information technology during 2023 will not be affected by the expected global economic downturn this year due to the economic diversification policy that the country continues to spend on automating vital sectors and continuing to invest in automation and artificial intelligence because of its many benefits in reducing operating costs.
He expected the UAE to continue pumping new investments in computing and improving digital services, especially in government services, the financial sector, tourism, travel, retail, education and health, while spending on cloud computing in the region and Africa is expected to reach about $10 billion this year, and on big data by about $10 billion. 4 billion dollars and about 4.8 billion dollars on information protection and cybersecurity.
Lashandani explained that the UAE’s approach to sustainability will have positive effects on reducing carbon emissions by between 10% and 20%, especially by focusing on data centers and devices in general.
IDC expects spending on digital transformation to grow in the Middle East and Africa, in line with the acceleration of the growth of the digital economy, expecting it to reach $48.8 billion in 2023, in addition to an acceleration of the compound annual growth rate by 16% in the coming years, to reach its value. to about $74 billion by 2026.
“The region will witness a variety of challenges during 2023, including fluctuations in the level of demand, growing inflation rates, high interest rates, and uncertainty across the stages of the supply chain, in addition to currency fluctuations,” Lashandani said.
He added, it is expected that institutions will aspire to achieve this goal by continuing to invest in digital transformation within the total expenditures allocated for the development and development of information technology fields, reaching a rate of 43.2% in 2026 compared to only 29.4% in 2021.
IDC’s forecasts showed that the region, Turkey and Africa 2023 will spend on technical sectors as follows:
• Spending on public cloud services grew by 25.0%, surpassing $10.4 billion.
• Cloud managed services grew by 16.1%, to exceed $1 billion in 2023 and $1.4 billion in 2025.
• Spending on big data analytics grew by 11.4%, reaching $4.1 billion in 2023.
• Spending on artificial intelligence grew by 16.3%, reaching $7.9 billion in 2023.
• Spending on robotic process automation (RPA) programs grew by 34.5%, surpassing $192.7 million.