Narrative
Full Description
Project narrative
In February 2002, China Eximbank and the Government of Laos signed an RMB 300 million government concessional loan (GCL) agreement for Phase 2 of the Lao Telecom Project. The borrowing terms of the GCL were as follows: a 15 year maturity, a 2 year grace period, and a 2% interest rate. The borrower was expected to use the proceeds from the GCL to finance a commercial contract with Alcatel-Lucent Shanghai Bell Co., Ltd., which was signed in January 2002. The purpose of the Lao Telecom Project was to upgrade the mobile and fixed telephone network of the government-owned Lao Telecommunications Public Company (Lao Telecom or LTC). Phase 2 most consisted of program-controlled switch supply and installation and microwave transmission debugging activities. Alcatel-Lucent Shanghai Bell Co., Ltd. was the EPC contractor responsible for implementation. Phase 2 was completed and handed over to the local authorities prior to March 28, 2005, but its precise implementation start and end dates are unknown.
Staff comments
1. The Chinese project title is 民币的老挝电信第二期扩容工 or 上海贝尔公司老挝电信网二期扩容工程 or 上海贝尔公司老挝全国电信网络改造项目 or 老挝电信公司（LTC）的GSM网项目. 2. The China Eximbank loan that supported this project is not included in the Overseas Development Finance Dataset that Boston University’s Global Development Policy Center published in December 2020. 3. LTC became a Lao-Thai joint venture in 1996, with the Lao Government holding a 51% ownership stake and Thaicom holding a 49% ownership stake. 4. China Eximbank also financed Phase 1 of the Lao Telecom Project (as captured via Record ID#47015) and Phase 3 of the Lao Telecom Project (as captured via Record ID#64093).