Chinese company wins major Ethiopian contract

ADDIS ABABA – China's Zhongxing Telecom Corporation (ZTE) has been awarded a US$ 29-million contract by authorities in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa to expand the country's mobile telephone network.

ZTE's bid beat five other companies: Motorola, Nokia, Ericsson, Alcatel, and another Chinese firm, Huawei Technologies.

Under the contract awarded to ZTE, the firm will have to increase Ethiopia's GSM mobile telephone network from 50,000 to 200,000 lines within 12 months.

The company is also contractually obliged to install new mobile telephone networks in 12 major Ethiopian cities.

ZTE’s full range of network products cover data, optical transport, switching, video conferencing, power supply, monitoring, etc. ZTE also provides solutions in narrowband, broadband, wired and wireless products, including a ZTE branded line of mobile handsets. The company already operates in a number of countries in Africa, including Libya, Benin, Ghana, Zambia, Tanzania, Angola, Algeria, Tunisia and now, Ethiopia.

The company is China's largest listed telecommunications equipment provider specializing in offering customized network solutions for telecom carriers worldwide. The company develops and manufactures telecommunications equipment for fixed, mobile, data and optical networks, intelligent networks and next generation networks as well as mobile phones. ZTE has been listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange since 1997.