Ethiopia Building $45 Million Technology Park With China’s Help

Ethiopia’s government plans to open a $45 million information-technology park next year to try and establish computer-related industries by advertising its low- wage advantage, the project manager said.

ZTE Corp. (000063), China’s second-largest maker of phone equipment, is building the telecommunication infrastructure for the 200- hectare (494-acre) facility on outskirts of Addis Ababa, project manager Berhanu Keleta said yesterday.

“The objective is to develop an information communication technology industry by providing a conducive environment,” he said in an interview in the Ethiopian capital yesterday.

The government, which has a state monopoly on telecommunications, says it wants to attract businesses including call-centers and computer hardware assembly plants to the park, which will have Internet speeds of as much as 40 gigabytes a second, he said.

The government of Africa’s second-most populous nation is trying to attract service and manufacturing industries as it diversifies the economy away from reliance on agriculture.

To contact the reporter on this story: William Davison in Addis Ababa at wdavison3@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Antony Sguazzin at asguazzin@bloomberg.net