The Trump administration announced on Friday that Africell, the only American-owned telecommunications company in Africa, will receive a $99.6 million loan from the Export-Import Bank (EXIM) to help it compete with Chinese telecom giant Huawei.
The loan from EXIM was intended to “boost the telecommunications sector in Angola and strengthen American technology leadership abroad” by helping Africell acquire the latest American and European mobile phone technology.
“Africell’s fast growth in Angola and DRC (Democratic Republic of the Congo), and our long-term market leadership in Sierra Leone and The Gambia demonstrate the unique benefits that high-class American technology, skills and investment can bring to Africa,” said Africell CEO Ziad Dalloul.
“We are pleased to be working with EXIM to introduce more trusted communications infrastructure to our operating markets,” he said. “In doing so, we are flying the flag for American technology leadership and creating secure pathways for future American and allied digital technologies to be deployed in sub-Saharan Africa, including in the Lobito Corridor region.”
“The quality and results achieved through partnerships with the United States and American companies speak for themselves. This is a win for both our countries: American technology and a more prosperous, more connected Angola,” said Shannon Nagy Cazeau, charge d’affaires of the U.S. Embassy to Angola and Sao Tome and Principe.
While these statements did not directly mention China, Reuters noted on Friday that the Trump administration has been working on a “clean network” initiative to get security-threatening Chinese telecom and network equipment out of the U.S. and allied nations, particularly equipment from Huawei.
The U.S. government has slapped Huawei with heavy sanctions for allegedly spying on users, a charge the company denies, even though Chinese law explicitly requires all companies to hand over information about their customers upon demand from Chinese Communist intelligence services. Huawei has also been implicated in Communist China’s human rights abuses, such as the surveillance and oppression of the Uyghur Muslims of Xinjiang province.
Huawei currently has about 52% of the 5G mobile data market in Africa, a grip the Trump administration seeks to loosen. Africell, a company that started up in 2001 with a data center in Angola, received a $100 million loan in 2018 from the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, which has since been renamed to the International Development Finance Corporation (DFC). Africell used the funds to expand into the DRC, Gambia, and Sierra Leone. Africell repaid the loan three years ahead of schedule.