Telecoms infrastructure provider Africa Mobile Networks (AMN) secured a US$20 million loan with plans to spend the cash on mobile towers to connect deep rural locations in six new African countries.
In a statement, AMN detailed it aims to have 10,000 towers in rural locations across 20 African countries to connect over 35 million people.
AMN currently operates over 3,000 towers in 14 countries such as the DRC, Liberia, Congo and Guinea. The company is aiming to deploy in the Central African Republic, Kenya, Madagascar, Niger, South Africa and Uganda.
The loan will be provided by BlueOrchard Sustainable Assets Fund (BOSAF) and the OP Finnfund Global Impact Fund I.
AMN CEO Michael Darcy said: “Sub-Saharan Africa is home to 1.1 billion people, one-seventh of the global population, 62% of which is classified as rural. It is not only the fastest-growing region in the world but also has the world’s largest population percentage that does not have mobile coverage.
“According to estimations, more than 300 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa are living in villages which have no usable mobile network service today. We have set out to address this challenge.”
The infrastructure provider gained a US$36 million equity investment injection in 2021, from a consortium led by Metier, CDC Group, DEG, Proparco and other leading financial institutions and investment managers.
