Rivada expands Middle East presence with key appointment

Mustafa will engage with prospects and partners, focusing on the telecoms sector and growing interest of Rivada's Outernet in the region.
Rivada Space Networks has announced the appointment of Mustafa Afifi as Sales Director for the Middle East, strengthening its EMEA team as demand for secure, high-bandwidth connectivity in the region surges. Afifi will lead Rivada’s engagement with telecom operators, satellite resellers, regional satellite providers and integrators, offering tailored solutions for enterprise and government clients through Rivada’s next-generation low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellite network.
The Rivada Outernet, the company’s flagship LEO constellation, is designed to deliver ultra-secure, gigabit-speed global connectivity without relying on the public internet or third-party infrastructure. With its optical mesh network—enabled by inter-satellite laser links, onboard processing and space-based routing—the Outernet ensures data remains in space from origin to destination, achieving lower latencies than terrestrial fiber over long distances and providing pole-to-pole coverage.
This architecture is particularly suited for critical sectors such as finance, oil and gas, logistics and telecommunications. The Outernet allows multinational corporations to establish secure private networks, offers greater bandwidth for remote exploration sites, supports seamless fleet management, and provides 5G satellite backhaul for telecom operators expanding their networks into underserved areas. Middle Eastern connectivity providers stand to gain a competitive edge by tapping into these capabilities, offering enterprise-grade connectivity with unmatched performance and reach.
Joe Apa, Rivada’s VP of Sales for EMEA, said: 'With more than $16bn 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. 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.'
Declan Ganley, CEO of Rivada, added: '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.'
Rivada will showcase its capabilities at CABSAT 2025 from May 13–15. Attendees can visit the team at the stand and hear Joe Apa deliver a keynote address on “The Future of LEO Services” at the SatExpo conference on May 14 at 11:00 AM.
Stand S3-C45

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