Rivada Expands Middle East Reach with New Sales Director Appointment
Rivada appoints Mustafa Afifi to lead Middle East sales, expanding its secure LEO satellite network to telcos, enterprises, and governments.
Rivada Space Networks has expanded its EMEA Team with the appointment of Mustafa Afifi as Sales Director for the Middle East region. Mr. Afifi will focus on sectors including Telcos. Regional Satellite Operators and Satellite Resellers/Integrators, providing the most demanding enterprise and government customers with Rivada’s highly secure, high-bandwidth, global connectivity network.
The Rivada Outernet is a next-generation low-Earth orbit satellite constellation. When fully deployed it will provide gigabit-speed connectivity to any point on the globe, without needing to touch the public internet or any third-party infrastructure. Combining inter-satellite laser links with advanced onboard processing and unique routing and switching capabilities, this optical mesh network, in which data stays in space from origin to destination, creates an ultra-secure infrastructure with pole-to-pole coverage, offering end-to-end latencies much lower than terrestrial fiber over similar long distances.
For Enterprise and Government customers, the key attributes of the Outernet are ideal for a variety of applications. Rivada’s Outernet, for example, allows banks and other multinationals to create secure, single-domain networks between widely distributed offices. It provides significantly more bandwidth for oil & gas exploration firms than is available today, enables seamless connectivity for shipping & fleet management, and provides 5G satellite backhaul connectivity for network expansion to cellular operators. Connectivity providers in the Middle East can gain a competitive advantage by expanding their offerings in these markets, enabling new opportunities through secure, multi-gigabit bi-directional performance, combined with worldwide reach.
With more than US$16 billion of business globally for its unique LEO network and a growing number of key regional partners, we are seeing a huge uptake in our business in the Middle East region, underlining the growing appetite for our uniquely secure space-based network.” Apa added: “The Outernet’s ability to meet the requirements of the Middle East’s connectivity providers in terms of security, latency, capacity, and coverage is a game-changer for the region. With his extensive experience in the telecoms and ICT sectors with Vodafone, Nokia, Ericsson and Siemens across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, I’m delighted to welcome Mustafa to the Rivada team.
– Joe Apa, VP of Sales for EMEA, Rivada
Global and Red Sea subsea cables, which carry much of the world’s data traffic, are increasingly becoming a focal point of geopolitical tensions, with frequent cable cuts resulting in severe outages. More than ever, the Middle East region needs resilient infrastructure that is fast, secure and reliable. The Outernet is key to enhancing the region’s telecommunications infrastructure in terms of data sovereignty and security, supporting AI national digital strategies, ensuring uninterrupted connectivity and expanding international networks.
– Declan Ganley, CEO, Rivada
Rivada will be at CabSat from 13-15 May 2025. Meet us at stand S3-C45 and come along to the SatExpo conference session on May 14th at 11:00am, where Joe Apa will present a keynote on “The Future of LEO Services”.
