Published: 24 June 2014

Mobile phone company, NetOne is close to securing a $218 million loan from China, which will be used to finance its migration from 3G broadband to 4G, an official said on Tuesday.

NetOne chief executive officer Reward Kangai said most details of the loan had been thrashed out.

"The loan has been approved in China and we are now waiting for it to be signed. From what I gather, they are now asking for a number of things for example we need to set up an escrow account so that when the re-payments are due that escrow account will be able to pay our dues," he said.

"There were negotiations two weeks ago and perhaps what is now needed is a high level delegation to go to China to finalise the deal." The loan, an agreement between the Zimbabwean and the Chinese government, will be processed through the China Exim Bank. Kangai said despite the progress made, some competitors in the industry had allegedly been pulling strings to derail the loan deal.

He said this was because when the deal sailed through it would result in NetOne offering stiffer competition to its competitors, who for long have enjoyed an edge over the state owned company due to limited finances.

"There were issues with our competitors, they were trying to kill this project. There was a big fight and up to now they have not given up.

Muguti argued that the awarding of the contract had been flawed as Huawei had not gone through the tender process.

The lawsuit, which was withdrawn this year, had stalled negotiations for the $218 million Chinese loan.

- New Ziana

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