China Eximbank provides a RMB 50 million government concessional loan for the Mobile Network Project (Linked to Project ID#2482)

On January 20, 2006, the Export-Import Bank of China and the Société Nationale des Telecommunications (Tunisie Télécom) — a state-owned telecommunications company — signed a RMB 50 million ($6 million USD) government concessional loan (GCL) agreement for the Mobile Network Project (Chinese agreement name:《中国对外优惠贷款突尼斯电信13/2004号国际招标项目贷款协议》). The signing of this agreement followed the signing of a RMB 350 million preferential credit line for Tunisia on June 21, 2004 (captured by linked project ID#2482); this RMB 50 million loan was drawn from that amount. The GCL carried a maturity period of 15 years and an interest rate of 2%. It grace period is unknown. The proceeds of the loan were to be used by the borrower to finance a commercial contract (No. 13/2004) that it signed with Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. on August 26, 2005. The purpose of the project was to build a mobile phone network for Tunisie Télécom in Tunisia. 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

The Chinese project title is 华为公司在99/2003号国家传输干线项目 or 号国家传输干线项目 or 电信项目 or 援突尼斯国家电信公司13/2004号国际招标项目. In the database of Chinese loan commitments that SAIS-CARI released in July 2020, it does not identify the interest rate or the maturity length of the the China Eximbank loan that supported this project. AidData records the interest rate (2%) and the maturity length (15 years) as reported by China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM). 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.69 of "Document de référence de Tunisie Telecom").

Number of official sources

4

Number of total sources

10