Smile Telecoms Holdings, a 4G LTE broadband provider with presence in Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda, has announced that it has raised $365million of debt and equity financing.
The breakdown of the funding shows that Smile raised $50 million of equity from South Africa’s Public Investment Corporation, a body that invests on behalf of the South African Government Employees Pension Fund, and another $315 in debt financing led by African Export-Import Bank with participation from the Development Bank of Southern Africa, Diamond Bank PLC, Ecobank Nigeria, the PIC, the Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa Limited and Standard Chartered Bank.
The fund will be employed in expanding 4G LTE mobile broadband networks and services and to also roll out a national network for voice services. The company also plans to launch its broadband network in Democratic Republic of Congo in 2016.
“Now that we are fully funded to deliver national coverage of unrivalled super-fast internet access and clear voice services, our priority is to ensure that our customers experience and benefit from the power of high speed mobile broadband compared to the narrowband services available to date, including how to effectively manage the superior experience in terms of data consumption,” said Irene Charnley, Chief Executive Officer of Smile.
Smile has so far raised $600 million in funding since it began operations in 2007.
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