Three Chinese firms to invest $1.5 bln in Ethiopia telecom

Sept 13, 2006 (ADDIS ABABA) — Three Chinese firms have agreed to spend 1.5 bln usd to upgrade Ethiopia’s telephone network between now and 2010, the Ethiopian telecommunications ministry said.

“Three Chinese companies have agreed to invest 1.5 bln usd in Ethiopia to expand the existing phone infrastructure over the next four years,” Abdurahim Ahmed, communication division manager at the Ethiopian Ministry of Telecommunication, told Agence France-Presse.

ZTE Corp, Huawei Technologies and Chinese International Telecommunication Construction Corp were chosen for the Ethiopia contract from among eight international telephone operators including Ericsson, Nokia and Siemens, Ahmed said.

“The plan aims at increasing the number of mobile services from 1.5 mln today to 7 mln and that of fixed telephone network from 1 mln to 4 mln,” he added.

The Chinese investment forms part of a 2.4 bln usd plan by the Ethiopian government to improve the country’s telecoms infrastructure.

Aside from the upgrade of mobile and fixed-line telephone services, the government also plans to increase the size of the country’s fibre-optics network. At present there are 4,000 kilometers of fibre optic cable in Ethiopia. By 2010 the government hopes to increase that figure to 10,000 kilometers.

(XFN-ASIA)