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Overview

China Eximbank provides $127.5 million loan for Telecommunication Equipment and Infrastructure Modernization Project

Commitments (Constant USD, 2023)$117,573,059
Commitment Year•2021Country of Activity•UzbekistanDirect Recipient Country of Incorporation•UzbekistanSector•CommunicationsFlow Type•Loan

Status

Project lifecycle

Implementation

Pipeline: PledgePipeline: CommitmentImplementationCompletion

Timeline

Key dates

Commitment date
Aug 1, 2021
First repayment (originally scheduled)
Jul 31, 2026
Last repayment (originally scheduled)
Jul 28, 2036

Stakeholders

Organizations involved in projects and activities supported by financial and in-kind transfers from Chinese government and state-owned entities

Ultimate beneficial owners

At least 25% host country ownership

Funding agencies

State-owned Policy Banks

  • Export-Import Bank of China (China Eximbank)

Receiving agencies

Joint Venture/Special Purpose Vehicles

  • LLC Universal Mobile Systems

State-owned Banks

  • National Bank for Foreign Economic Activity of the Republic of Uzbekistan (NBU)

Implementing agencies

Private Sector

  • Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.

Loan description

China Eximbank provides $127.5 million loan for Telecommunication Equipment and Infrastructure Modernization Project

Grace period•5 yearsGrant element•38.3723%Interest rate (t₀)•3.5%Interest type•Fixed Interest RateMaturity•15 years

Narrative

Full Description

Project narrative

On August 29, 2019, during the Prime Minister of the Republic of Uzbekistan’s visit to Shenzen, an MOU was signed regarding a concessional loan from China Eximbank to LLC Universal Mobile Systems (UMS or МЧЖ) — a special purpose vehicle and subsidiary of the Uzbek state-owned company Uzbektelecom — for the Telecommunication Equipment and Infrastructure Modernization Project. Then, in August 2021, China Eximbank and the National Bank for Foreign Economic Activity of the Republic of Uzbekistan signed a $127,500,000 loan agreement for the Telecommunication Equipment and Infrastructure Modernization Project. This loan carries the following borrowing terms: a 15 year maturity (final maturity date: September 2026), a 5 year grace period, and a 3.5% interest rate. The loan proceeds were on-lent from NBU to LLC Universal Mobile Systems. The ultimate borrower was expected to use the proceeds of the loan to partially finance a commercial contract with Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. A loan disbursement of $52,106,288 took place in 2021. Another loan disbursement of $12,043,891 took place in 2022. The purpose of the project is to enable UMS to modernize its telecommunications equipment and infrastructure. Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. is the contractor responsible for implementation.

Staff comments

1. The Uzbek project title is мобиль алоқа операторининг технологик ускуналарини модернизация қилиш ва алоқа тизимларини кенгайтириш инвестиция лойиҳаси. 2. The Government of Uzbekistan holds a 50.01% ownership stake in LLC Universal Mobile Systems. 3. This China Eximbank loan is not included in the China’s Overseas Development Finance Dataset that Boston University's Global Development Policy Center published in December 2020.