China Eximbank provides a RMB 133.48 million government concessional loan for the Landline Telephone Network Expansion Project

On March 4, 2004, the Export-Import Bank of China and the Société Nationale des Telecommunications (Tunisie Télécom) — a state-owned telecommunications company — signed a RMB 133,480,000 government concessional loan (GCL) agreement for the Landline Telephone Network Expansion Project. The signing of this agreement followed the signing of a preferential loan framework agreement on October 25, 2003. Law nº 2005-10 of January 26, 2005 approved the loan agreement. The Tunisian Government then ratified the loan agreement via Decree nº 2005-582 on March 7, 2005. Tunisia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs was responsible for executing the decree. The Government of Tunisia also issued a sovereign guarantee in support of the loan. The proceeds of the loan were to be used by the borrower to finance a commercial contract [Lot 1 of contract number 7/2002 or 署第7/2002号标1号包项目] that it signed with Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. on August 8, 2003. The contract value was approximately $18 million USD; it involved work at 42 sites and a total of 12 transmission rings, covering all of Tunisia's important cities. The purpose of the project was to acquire and install network switches in order to support the expansion of a (fixed) landline telephone network; see expansion on pg.743 of "Jort N° 074/2008 - Version Française"). There is some evidence in the December 2010 individual and consolidated financial statements of Tunisie Télécom that this project was implemented. However, precise implementation start and end dates are unknown.

Additional details

This project is also known as the Fixed Telephone Network Capacity Extension Project. The Chinese project title is 国家传输干线项目. The French project title is Projet d’extension de la capacité du réseau téléphonique fixe. Some official sources (such as the Economic and Commercial Counselor's Office of the Chinese Embassy in Libya - "中国进出口银行与突尼斯电信签署优惠贷款借贷协议"; and the Journal Officiel de la République Tunisienne - pg.743 of "Jort N° 074/2008 - Version Française") indicate that the loan agreement was signed on March 4, 2004. Other official sources (such as the Ministry of Finance of Tunisia - "RAPPORT SUR LA DETTE PUBLIQUE ANNEE 2005") indicate that it was signed on March 10, 2004. Since most sources state that the loan agreement was signed on March 4, AidData has accepted it as the signing date. In 2006, Tunisia’s telecommunication sector went through a privatization process and a 35% ownership stake in Tunisie Télécom was sold to Dubai Investment Group (DIG) and a consortium known as TECOM [previously known as EIT or Emirates International Telecommunications (Tunisia) FZ - LLC] (see pg.3 of "Document de référence de Tunisie Telecom").

Number of official sources

12

Number of total sources

18