ZTE to build Nigerian telecom network

CHINA: ZTE has announced that it has won a contract from Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Communications (MOC) to construct Phase II of the country’s nationwide telecoms network.

The network will use ZTE’s CDMA2000 1X and EV-DO systems and GoTa digital trunking technology. It will have a capacity of over 250,000 lines and cover 138 cities of 12 states in Northern Nigeria. This will be in addition to Phase I of the network, currently under construction by ZTE, which will have a capacity of nearly 100,000 lines and cover the Nigeria’s major cities. Phase I is expected to be completed by the first half of 2007, ZTE said in a statement.

Phase II will provide voice, short message and 1X data services as well as high-speed EV-DO broadband data and GoTa trunking services. ZTE will also provide a wide variety of terminals including CDMA 1X handsets, fixed terminals, EV-DO and GoTa terminals.

Bafemi Anibaba, head of the MOC, said, “As a part of the strong cooperation between China and Africa, ZTE has served Nigeria’s telecoms industry for many years. Their performance in the Phase I development further strengthened our decision to set up a long-term cooperation relationship with this company.”

“ZTE has extensive experience of providing CDMA network engineering services to a majority of African countries and in network construction in Nigeria. We are confident of completing Phase I and Phase II to the required quality standards and on schedule,” said Zhang Yang, president of Central and West African Region, ZTE Corporation.