US financing backs African telecoms to counter Huawei's market share

The US Export-Import Bank disclosed a loan for Africell's Angola operations to fund the acquisition of network technology from American and European sources, while the International Development Finance Corporation approved an equity investment in WIOCC Group, whose fibre, wholesale connectivity and data-centre services span 30 African countries. Both actions aim to undercut Huawei, which supplies roughly half of Africa's 5G infrastructure, by fostering an ecosystem built on European radio equipment and US semiconductor and software components.

The strategy reflects a shift from earlier security-focused initiatives, such as the Clean Network, toward using public capital to support alternative vendors. With no American RAN supplier, the US is combining financing with European hardware and Open RAN concepts to create a more fragmented, interoperable network architecture. Chinese financing for African ICT projects has declined, but Chinese firms continue to invest in other sectors, leaving Huawei's extensive installed base as a key advantage. The new US funding addresses part of the cost gap for operators but does not fully resolve the challenge of switching incumbent networks that heavily rely on Huawei equipment.