OPIC Board Approves $72 Million for Internet Expansion Project in East Africa

(OPIC) Will Bring Affordable High-speed Service to Underserved Middle-class Markets

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Board of Directors of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), the U.S. Government’s development finance institution, today approved $72 million in financing to help bring affordable high-speed internet service, television programming and telephone service to growing, yet underserved middle class markets in East Africa.

The OPIC direct loan will enable Wananchi Group Holdings (WGH), a Kenyan company, to extend fiber optic cable services for high-speed internet, television and voice-over internet telephonic services in Kenya. WGH will also provide pay TV programming via satellite across a broad footprint of cities and rural areas directly to Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda, and indirectly through agents to a number of other East African countries, including Burundi, Malawi, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, and Zambia.

Of particular significance to WGH is the opportunity to provide customers with a combination of high-quality international programming and locally-based content. WGH’s Zuku-brand channels, for example, include a learning channel for children and a regional documentary channel where both the production and on-camera presence are local. WGH also offers a health channel that is responsive to local health concerns.

“Delivering state-of-the art internet service and television programming with improved local content to urbanizing East African markets at affordable prices is an important step forward for the region’s growing middle class,” said OPIC President and CEO Elizabeth Littlefield. “We are pleased by the opportunity to support a technological upgrade that provides so many developmental benefits across so many African markets.”

In addition, the project will generate more than 1,000 local managerial and professional/technical jobs, as well as downstream jobs for third-party dealers, installers, and marketers.

The U.S. sponsor of the project is East Africa Capital Partners, a fund manager that received $50 million in OPIC financing in 2008 to establish Africa Telecommunications, Media and Technology Fund I. Much of that fund’s investment focus has been the development of WGH.