Telecom Egypt has acquired a US$165 million loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB) to widen its 4G broadband network. The funds will be used for infrastructure development to deploy 2,000 new mobile sites that will improve coverage and install more capacity layers to the current mobile towers.
The collaboration is EIB’s largest investment in mobile network loans in Africa which will widen the network coverage in overpopulated areas, enrich competition and reduce services price.
Abel Hamed, CEO and Managing Director of Telecom Egypt, added, “We are delighted to have obtained this new credit line from EIB after lengthening negotiation, which included the presentation of our operational plan to increase our mobile network scale, which is a goal that is in line with EIB’s development projects.
The network operator seeks to capitalise on its different financial resources, recently awarded spectrum and a portfolio of high-value products to keep providing its much-needed services to its increasing customer market and increase its competitive position within the market.
The Deputy Head of the EU delegation to Egypt, Tobia Krause, said, “Digital transformation is at the core of this new partnership with Egypt. The EU intends to help the Egyptian government’s endeavour to offer affordable access to broadband services to aid Egyptian citizens.
We aim to continue joining forces with member states and the European financial institutions to aid Egypt’s human-centric digital transition and support a sustainable, connected and inclusive market.”
In 2016, EIB invested US$109 million to Tunisie Telecom for 4G network development and a further US$38 million loan to Telecom Kenya.
