China Eximbank provides $51 million for the Digital Migration TV Project

Project narrative

In 2013, China Eximbank provided a $51 million loan to the Government of South Sudan for the Digital Migration TV Project. The purpose of this project was to help South Sudan migrate from analog to digital communication systems (also known as the Digital Migration TV Project). ZTE was the contractor selected to implement this project. The $51 million USD loan was expected to only be an initial loan, with more funding to follow as the project progressed. Construction began in 2013, but within a short span of time, the Digital Migration TV Project was temporarily suspended due to the outbreak of violence in South Sudan. According to a string of public disclosed emails and letters between Government of South Sudan officials, China Eximbank and Huawei, on October 2, 2014, an employee at Huawei (one of ZTE's competitors) pretended to be the South Sudanese Minister of Information and Broadcasting and requested that the loan be suspended until a new contractor was selected at a more reasonable price, in an apparent attempt to sabotage ZTE and the project. The employee also allegedly hacked Government of South Sudan e-mail addresses and falsified and forged documents on behalf of the senior Government of South Sudan officials. The forged letter from the Huawei employee said that the Government of South Sudan investigated the cost of the project and discovered that the $51 million cost of the project was severely inflated for the transition from analog to digital communication systems and that the true price of the project should have been around $20 million. South Sudan’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting also accused the Huawei employee of forging a letter to the President of the Eximbank of China under his name. On October 22, 2014, Huawei acknowledged that one of its staff members engaged in these behaviors and that he was now subject to an internal investigation. The Digital Migration TV project was eventually completed by ZTE at an unknown date.