Trump administration to lend $100 million to telecoms firm Africell, countering Huawei in Africa

The Trump administration is set to lend nearly $100 million to Africell, Africa's sole American-owned telecommunications company, as part of efforts to counter Huawei's growth in Africa. According to a press release and a source familiar with the matter, the Export-Import Bank loan will enable Africell to invest in cutting-edge mobile network technology provided by American and allied suppliers.

Ziad Dalloul, Africell's CEO, expressed satisfaction with the collaboration with EXIM to introduce more secure communications infrastructure in the firm's operating markets.

Huawei, the dominant player in Africa's 5G infrastructure market with a 52% share, did not comment on the matter. The Chinese embassy in Washington defended Chinese investments in Africa, stating that they have fueled growth and are well-received by locals. In response, the U.S. emphasized the importance of supporting other nations' development and refrained from undermining the China-Africa partnership.

The $100 million loan is part of Washington's broader campaign to promote non-Huawei telecommunications equipment globally. President Donald Trump's administration initiated a "clean network" initiative in 2018 to remove Chinese telecom technologies, apps, and carriers from U.S. and allied nations' infrastructure, a move that has continued under his second term. The U.S. has imposed stringent sanctions on Huawei over allegations of potential spying, which Huawei denies.

The loan also honors a 2025 executive order by Trump that directed U.S. agencies to encourage the use of American technology abroad in AI, data center storage, cloud services, and networking. Founded in 2001, Africell acquired technology from HP, Nokia, Dell, and Oracle to construct a data center in Angola, serving 15 million customers across Angola, Gambia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Sierra Leone.

In 2022, former U.S. President Joe Biden's deputy secretary of state, Wendy Sherman, visited Africell's Angola offices and cautioned that choosing Huawei could result in losing sovereignty and transmitting data to another country.