- Washington Backs American-Owned Africell as US-China Technology Contest Deepens Across Africa
The Trump administration is preparing to provide nearly US$100 million in financing to Africell, Africa’s only American-owned telecommunications operator, in the latest attempt by Washington to challenge Huawei’s commanding position in the continent’s mobile infrastructure market.
The financing, to be provided through the Export-Import Bank of the United States, will enable Africell to acquire advanced mobile-network technology from American and allied suppliers, placing development and export finance increasingly at the centre of Washington’s technological competition with China across Africa.
Africell, founded in 2001, serves about 15 million customers across Angola, The Gambia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sierra Leone. The company has previously sourced technology from companies including HP, Nokia, Dell and Oracle, and has invested in infrastructure including a data centre in Angola.
The transaction goes beyond conventional telecoms financing. It reflects an increasingly explicit US strategy of using public financial institutions to create commercial alternatives to Chinese technology suppliers in emerging markets, particularly in telecommunications, data centres, cloud computing and artificial intelligence infrastructure.
Huawei remains the central target of that effort. The Chinese technology group controls about 52.00% of Africa’s 5G infrastructure market, according to Counterpoint Research figures cited by Reuters, giving it a scale that American and European vendors have struggled to match across a continent where affordability and financing have often been decisive factors in infrastructure procurement.
Washington has long argued that dependence on Chinese telecommunications equipment poses national-security and data-security risks. US authorities have imposed extensive restrictions on Huawei over allegations that its technology could potentially be used for surveillance, claims the Chinese company has consistently denied.
President Donald Trump made confronting Chinese telecommunications technology a prominent part of his first administration through the “Clean Network” initiative, which sought to remove Chinese telecoms equipment, applications and carriers from US and allied infrastructure. Similar efforts have continued during his second term.
The Africell financing also follows a 2025 executive order directing US agencies to promote American technology internationally across artificial intelligence, data-centre storage, cloud services and networking, suggesting the contest with China is broadening from individual telecoms vendors into the wider digital infrastructure that will underpin emerging economies.
For Africell, access to US government-backed financing could provide the capital required to expand and modernise networks while strengthening its ability to compete against operators relying on Chinese equipment and financing.
Ziad Dalloul, chief executive of Africell Holding Limited, said the company welcomed the partnership with EXIM as it sought to introduce what he described as more “trusted and secure communications infrastructure” in its operating markets.
The US Export-Import Bank functions as Washington’s official export credit agency, providing loans, guarantees and insurance intended to support exports of American goods and services. Its involvement means the Africell transaction is designed not only to strengthen the telecoms operator but also to generate demand for technology supplied by US companies and allied manufacturers. EXIM says it has supported US$13.5 billion of transactions in sub-Saharan Africa between 2010 and 2023.
The financing also represents a continuation rather than the beginning of US backing for Africell. In 2018, the company received a US$100 million loan from the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, the predecessor to the US International Development Finance Corporation, to expand telecommunications infrastructure.
Washington’s strategy confronts a structural advantage enjoyed by Chinese technology companies across Africa. Huawei has spent years supplying telecommunications infrastructure in markets where rapid population growth, rising smartphone adoption and increasing demand for mobile data have required operators to expand networks while controlling capital costs.
Chinese companies have often combined competitive equipment pricing with financing structures that make large infrastructure projects easier for governments and private operators to undertake. The new Africell loan indicates that Washington increasingly recognises that challenging that position will require not only security arguments but also commercially attractive financing.
China has pushed back against the US framing of its role on the continent.
The Chinese embassy in Washington said Chinese investment had contributed to economic growth in Africa and had been welcomed by local populations. It urged the United States to support other countries’ development without pursuing an Africa strategy aimed at weakening China-Africa cooperation.
The disagreement highlights a wider contest over who will supply the technology underpinning Africa’s next phase of digitalisation.
Telecommunications networks increasingly form the infrastructure supporting mobile money, digital banking, e-commerce, government services, cloud computing and emerging artificial-intelligence applications. Decisions over network suppliers consequently carry implications extending well beyond mobile-phone services into data governance, cybersecurity and economic sovereignty.
The stakes have previously drawn interventions from senior US officials. During a 2022 visit to Africell’s operations in Angola, Wendy Sherman, then US deputy secretary of state, warned that countries choosing Huawei could risk surrendering control over their data, illustrating the security argument Washington has repeatedly deployed in encouraging governments to adopt alternatives. Huawei rejects accusations that its equipment facilitates Chinese state surveillance.
For African governments and telecoms operators, however, the competition could create greater choice. If Washington is prepared to pair American and allied technology with large-scale financing, operators may gain additional options when building 5G networks, data centres and other digital infrastructure.
The nearly US$100 million Africell transaction therefore represents more than a loan to a telecommunications company. It signals an attempt by Washington to convert geopolitical concerns over Huawei into a competing commercial proposition using state-backed financing to ensure American and allied suppliers have a stronger foothold in one of the world’s fastest-growing digital markets.
