(Associated Press via NewsEdge) Three Chinese firms will invest $1.5 billion over the next four years to upgrade Ethiopia's telephone system, officials said.
Huawei Technologies, China International Telecommunication Construction, and ZTE, plan to expand the network as part of one of the largest financial investments ever made in the impoverished Horn of Africa nation, officials said.
The companies were from among eight international bidders, among them Ericsson, Nokia and Siemens.
The firms aim to boost mobile phone users from the current 1.5 million customers to seven million. Fixed lines will be quadrupled from 1 million to 4 million users.
The project represents a huge investment in Ethiopia where annual incomes are just $100 and the annual gross domestic product just $8 billion.
The country frequently suffers severe food shortages and is unable to feed its 77 million people without foreign aid.
'It should be a significant improvement in our country's telecom system,' said Abdurahim Ahmed, spokesman of the Ethiopian Ministry of Telecommunications. 'It will even deliver services to very remote areas and expanding on already existing services in the urban centers, along with improvements in the mobile network system.'
The Ethiopian government was seeking others to invest an extra $900 million needed to completely overhaul the telecommunications infrastructure, he said.
Chinese officials were not immediately available for comment.
China is eager to expand relations with Africa, offering aid, trade and investment deals to gain access to markets and oil supplies.
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