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Press Release

Monday, December 19, 2005

U.S. Small Business Uses OPIC Loan to Establish Wireless Network in Nigeria

WASHINGTON, D.C. – A U.S. small business will use a loan from the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) to establish a fixed wireless network in the populous Rivers State of southern Nigeria, OPIC President and CEO Robert Mosbacher, Jr. announced today.

OPIC will provide a $7.6 million loan to Sirius Wireless Limited, a subsidiary of Washington, D.C.-based telecommunications developer ThirdWave Networks Holding Inc., for the first phase of a project that will ultimately subscribe 24,000 Nigerians to the network.

The project will provide residential, small and medium-sized enterprises, and large corporation subscribers in Rivers State with much-needed basic telephony, as well as internet service ranging from broadband, DSL, and dial-up. The first phase of the project will establish a network with an initial capacity of 4,000 subscribers.

Harris Corporation, a U.S. company, will build the network. ThirdWave Management, another subsidiary of ThirdWave Networks Holding, will provide senior management and strategic direction to the project.

Sirius, which in 2002 won a Fixed Wireless Access competition in Rivers State administered by the Nigerian Communication Commission, will establish the network through an interconnect agreement with NITEL, the state-owned telecommunications company.

“Nigeria offers significant investment opportunities for the American telecom sector, given its large population and the relative scarcity of wireline networks. Increased interconnectivity, in turn, will accelerate Nigeria’s entry into the global marketplace, and therefore its economic growth,” Mosbacher said. “OPIC is pleased to support a U.S. small business in a project with so many developmental benefits.”

Charles Oshunremi, chairman and CEO of ThirdWave Networks Holdings, said, "We are very pleased to partner with OPIC for the first network phase of our Nigeria subsidiary company, Sirius Wireless. With OPIC's financial support we will be able to provide a high-speed-access telecommunications network in Rivers State."


OPIC is the U.S. Government’s development finance institution.  It mobilizes private capital to help solve critical development challenges and in doing so, advances U.S. foreign policy.  Because OPIC works with the U.S. private sector, it helps U.S. businesses gain footholds in emerging markets catalyzing revenues, jobs and growth opportunities both at home and abroad.  OPIC achieves its mission by providing investors with financing, guarantees, political risk insurance, and support for private equity investment funds.

 

Established as an agency of the U.S. Government in 1971, OPIC operates on a self-sustaining basis at no net cost to American taxpayers. OPIC services are available for new and expanding business enterprises in more than 150 countries worldwide. To date, OPIC has supported nearly $200 billion of investment in over 4,000 projects, generated $74 billion in U.S. exports and supported more than 275,000 American jobs.