Africell Angola expansion wins a US$99.6m EXIM loan

US financing targets secure growth in Angolan telecoms

The Export-Import Bank of the United States has approved a US$99.6m direct loan to Africell, structured to finance mobile network equipment for its Angola operations. The facility will fund the latest American and European wireless technology embedded in Africell’s Angolan rollout. EXIM and Africell both frame the deal as support for US jobs and a tool to strengthen American technology leadership in wireless infrastructure abroad.

Africell describes itself as the only US-owned mainstream mobile network operator on the continent. It runs active operations in Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone and The Gambia, serving around 15 million customers. The operator has built its Angola network on secure Western equipment, presenting it as a model for markets seeking what Washington terms trusted communications infrastructure. The new EXIM facility deepens a capital stack that already includes a US$100m loan from the US International Development Finance Corporation, used to expand Africell’s infrastructure and support its Angolan market entry.

EXIM’s public mandate links the loan to backing US exports, expanding financing across sub-Saharan Africa, and diversifying technology supply away from less secure vendors. Africell’s chief executive Ziad Dalloul said the company’s growth across Angola, DRC, Sierra Leone and The Gambia shows the benefits of high-quality American technology and investment in African telecoms. That positioning fits Washington’s broader strategy to anchor secure connectivity in markets where political alignment with the US is strengthening.

How does the Africell Angola deal fit the US–China tech contest?

The EXIM loan forms part of a wider US effort to counter Chinese telecoms vendors, particularly Huawei, across African networks. The facility explicitly prioritises purchases from American and allied suppliers, signalling a clear preference for US and European vendors in Africell’s procurement. As a result, the financing serves as both industrial policy and a geostrategic instrument, supporting US equipment makers while shrinking non-Western technology footprints in key African systems.

EXIM expects the loan to establish secure pathways for future US and allied digital investment across sub-Saharan Africa, including along the Lobito rail corridor, which connects mineral-rich inland regions to the Atlantic coast. Africell points to the EXIM deal as part of a wider US commercial push in Angola and neighbouring countries, tied to more than US$5bn of commitments around the Lobito Corridor for rail upgrades, bridges and broadcasting infrastructure. Mobile broadband and data capacity are therefore being layered onto strategic trade and logistics routes, not treated as standalone assets.

For investors, this creates a clear signal. US backing for the Africell Angola expansion is not a one-off gesture. It is part of a structured approach to digital and transport corridors in southern Africa. Demand for cloud services, content delivery, cybersecurity and data-centre capacity is rising along export routes for copper, cobalt and other minerals. US-backed telecoms in Angola are evolving from a single-country bet into a corridor-wide digital platform play.

Meanwhile, Africell’s position as a US-owned multi-market operator makes it a natural anchor tenant for Western vendors and financiers seeking African telecoms scale without relying on Chinese technology. Equipment suppliers, systems integrators and fibre providers that meet US security standards are well-placed to benefit from Africell’s capital expenditure cycle and from follow-on transactions across the Lobito-linked region.

Investors should watch how Africell executes its Angola build-out, whether EXIM structures similar facilities in DRC or other markets, and how much incremental demand this corridor strategy creates for cloud, data-centre and cybersecurity capacity across southern Africa.

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