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Ethiopia signs $800 mln mobile network deal with China's ZTE
Ethiopia signs $800 mln mobile network deal with China's ZTE
By Aaron Maasho
ADDIS ABABA, Aug 18 (Reuters) - Ethiopia signed an $800 million deal with China's ZTE on Sunday 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 telecoms equipment maker, is half of a $1.6 billion project split with Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, 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 telecoms industry has come to symbolise its economic growth, with subscribers across the continent totalling almost 650 million last year, up from just 25 million in 2001, according to the World Bank.
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