China Eximbank provides $25.06 million loan for CDMA 2000 Fixed Wireless Telephony Project (Linked to Record ID#396, #55744)

Project narrative

In 2007, China Eximbank and the Government of Chad signed a $25.06 million concessional loan for the CDMA 2000 (Fixed Wireless Telephony) Project. This loan reportedly carried the following borrowing terms: a 1.5% interest rate and a 5 year grace period but the maturity length is unknown. The purpose of this project was to rollout a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) telecommunications network across 27 towns in Chad. The network was designed to provide three services: mobile phone coverage, fixed phone coverage, and high-speed Internet access. ZTE Corporation was the contractor responsible for project implementation. Construction began in August 2006. The first phase of the construction of the 10,000-line CDMA network in N’Djamena was completed in May 2007. The second phase included a 190,000 line CDMA national network. By the end of 2009, all the 75 sites of this project were completed and commissioned on a trial basis. The project then passed final inspection at the end of 2010. There are indications that the China Eximbank loan for the CDMA 2000 Fixed Wireless Telephony Project financially underperformed vis-a-vis the original expectations of the lender. After a sharp decline in oil prices in 2014-2015, Chad experienced an economic recession and a debt crisis and its government sought to renegotiate the borrowing terms of the China Eximbank loan for the CDMA 2000 Fixed Wireless Telephony Project. A rescheduling agreement was finalized in April 2017: China Eximbank agreed to the lengthen the maturity of the loan and reschedule arrears that had accumulated (as captured via Record ID#55744). It appears that China Eximbank did not require the accumulated arrears to be repaid before rescheduling the maturity of the loan..