Motorola Ltd is to help upgrade and expand Pakistan's mobile phone network under a US$50mn contract which has been partly underwritten by the Export Credits Guarantee Department (ECGD), the UK's official Export Credit Agency. The contract - which will be sourced from Motorola's Swindon factory - will provide cellular phone infrastructure equipment to Pakistan Mobile Communications Limited (PMCL) so it can expand cellular phone coverage across the country under its Mobilink brand name. ECGD has guaranteed, under its buyer credit finance facility, a US$48mn bank loan, provided by both ABN AMRO and Citigroup, which will be used by PMCL to help meet the costs of the Motorola contract. Mobile phone penetration in Pakistan currently stands at 8% and is expected to grow to 15% by the end of 2006. In addition, France and Germany's Export Credit Agencies - Coface and Euler Hermes - have provided support to their exporters Alcatel and Siemens respectively for supplying additional equipment to PMCL. These two further contracts will also fund the growing infrastructure requirements of Mobilink.
www.ecgd.gov.uk