China Eximbank provides government concessional loan for Phase 2 of Telecommunication Network Rehabilitation Project (Linked to Project ID#55516)

On July 19, 2011, China Eximbank and the Government of Eritrea signed a preferential loan framework agreement for Phase 2 of the Telecommunication Network Rehabilitation Project. Then, on September 11, 2011, the Export-Import Bank of China (China Eximbank) and the Government of Eritrea signed a government concessional loan (GCL) agreement to support this project. The estimated face value of the loan is $23 million. The borrowing terms of this loan are unknown. This purpose of this project is to establish a national MPLS IP backbone, GSM mobile network, TSEiNET ISP network for the country’s state-owned telecoms operator (Eritel). Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. and ZTE Corporation are the contractors responsible for implementation. The project commenced in 2012 and was completed in 2014. China Eximbank also financed Phase 1 of the Telecommunication Network Rehabilitation (see Project ID#55516).

Additional details

1. This project is also known as the Eritrea Telecom Phase II Project and the Eritrean Telecom Phase II Reconstruction Project. The Chinese project title is 厄立特里亚电信二期改造项目. 2. This loan is not included in the database of Chinese loan commitments that SAIS-CARI released in July 2020. 3. The estimated face value of the loan is based on the following source: https://ojs.amhinternational.com/index.php/jsds/article/download/3267/2068/. However, given that the loan was issued as a GCL, it was almost certainly denominated in RMB. This issue warrants further investigation.

Number of official sources

4

Number of total sources

8