Addis Ababa, Ethiopia's capital city. CC image courtesy of Michael David Murphy.
Huawei Technologies has signed a US$700 million deal with Ethiopia to increase mobile usage and roll out 4G and 3G services.
The partnership hopes to double state-run Ethio Telecom’s subscriber base to 56 million by 2015 and represents further expansion into the African market by the Chinese telecommunications equipment maker.
Reuters reports a 4G broadband network will be built in the capital Addis Ababa, while a 3G network will be created for the rest of the country.
The deal is one half of a US$1.6 billion project split between Huawei and ZTE, another Chinese equipment maker.
Ethio Telecom is the only mobile operator in the country, but Ethiopia’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology has invited applications for companies to provide value added services.
There have 218 applications, however MTN Group are the only company to have granted a licence so far.
