ZTE signs network deployment deal with Ethiopia

ZTE Corp of Shenzen, China has announced that it is exclusively to build a nationwide telecoms network in Ethiopia. It will link 14 major cities including the country's capital Addis Ababa.

The deal was signed after ZTE, last year, reached an earlier agreement with the Ethiopia Telecommunications Corporation (ETC) to help construct an IP-backbone network in the country. ZTE says the new network will offer Ethiopian business and domestic subscribers access to next-generation network services including fixed line service, mobile comms and improved Internet access.

The Chinese manufacturer is to help ETC to establish two separate networks that will allow the telco to provide NGN and BTS related network services by deploying ZTE's GSM bearer network optical equipment. ZTE will also aid the ETC to establish a metropolitan network by deploying ZXMP M800 high-end optical transmission equipment and an access network by using the ZXMP M600, a CWDM system with Fixed Service Access Gateway.

The completion date for the new network has been set as October 2009. In a statement, Han Ling, ZTE's vice president and general manager of optical network products said, "ZTE is
committed to playing a key role in bolstering Ethiopia's telecom infrastructure, and thus to help boost its economic growth."

In recent years, emergent Chinese telecoms equipment manufacturers such as ZTE and Huawei Technologies have been expanding rapidly in emerging economies such as India and Africa. Indeed, to date, ZTE has done deals or otherwise co-operated with more than 500 operators in over 135 countries and has completed big IP-based backbone networks in several countries.