US Approves $99.6 Million Loan to Africell for Angola Network Upgrade

The Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM) has approved a $99.6 million direct loan to Africell, the only U.S.-owned mobile network operator active in Africa, the company said Friday.

Ziad Dalloul, Africell’s CEO, president and founder, said the loan fits a larger pattern.

“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,” Dalloul said.

“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 Lobito Corridor is a transport and development route stretching from Angola’s Atlantic port of Lobito through the country to mining regions in southern Congo and northwestern Zambia.

Africell plans to buy the latest American and European mobile network gear for its Angola network. The U.S. mobile network operator entered Angola in 2022, and has since taken a sizable share of the market. The company says its internet service ranks as the best in the country.

Shannon Nagy Cazeau, chargé d’affaires at the U.S. Embassy to Angola and São Tomé and Príncipe, called the arrangement mutual.

“The quality and results achieved through partnerships with the United States and American companies speak for themselves,” Cazeau said. “This is a win for both our countries: American technology and a more prosperous, more connected Angola.”

EXIM did not immediately return a request for comment.

EXIM is the U.S. government’s official export credit agency. It works as an independent body to support American jobs through export financing. It uses tools such as export credit insurance, working capital guarantees, loan guarantees, and direct loans.

For mobile users in Angola, the partnership is meant to bring wider coverage and more competition, with Africell’s network built to technical standards used by U.S. vendors.

Officials say using secure U.S. equipment helps Angola spread its technology sources, keep more control at home, build digital resilience, and better guard against cyberattacks and other information-security risks.