Ethiopia has signed an US$800 million deal with China’s ZTE Zhongxing Telecommunications Equipment to expand mobile phone infrastructure and introduce a high-speed 4G broadband network in the capital Addis Ababa and a 3G service throughout the rest of the country.

The agreement with ZTE, China’s second-largest telecom equipment maker, is half of a US$1.6 billion project split with Huawei Technologies Co, the world’s second-largest telecom equipment maker. Huawei signed the agreement last month.

Both firms will provide low interest loans to Ethiopia through an arrangement known as vendor financing, Ethiopian officials and both firms said.

Africa’s rapidly expanding telecom industry has come to symbolize its economic growth, with subscribers across the continent totaling almost 650 million last year, up from just 25 million in 2001, according to the World Bank.

Andualem Admassie, acting chief executive officer of state-run Ethio Telecom, said the agreement would enable the Horn of Africa country to double subscribers to more than 50 million.

 

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