3 Chinese firms to invest on Ethiopian telecoms

AFP | September 14, 2006

"Three Chinese companies have agreed to invest $1.5 billion in Ethiopia to expand the existing phone infrastructure over the next four years," Abdurahim Ahmed, communication division manager at the Ethiopian ministry of telecommunication, said.

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

The Chinese investment forms part of a $2.4 billion 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 fiber-optics network. At present there are 4,000 kilometers (2,485 miles) of fiber optic cable in Ethiopia. By 2010 the government hopes to increase that figure to 10,000 kilometers.

The three Chinese firms - ZTE Corporation, Huawei Technologies, and the Chinese International Telecommunication Construction Corporation - were chosen for the Ethiopia contract from among eight international telephone operators including Eriksson, Nokia, and Siemens, Ahmed said.