Zimbabwe’s largest mobile operator, Econet Wireless, has secured  a US$60m loan facility from Swedish export credit agency  EKN to expand its infrastructure, the firm said Wednesday.

The loan will result in Swedish telecommunications equipment supplier Ericsson  installing additional equipment to expand Econet’s infrastructure  in the capital Harare, the company’s largest subscriber base.

Econet CEO Douglas Mboweni said the facility  would be used to buy equipment to improve efficiency in Harare.

“Our customers in Harare are increasingly buying mobile phones,  and this means we require more capacity and capability on the  network,” Mboweni said in statement.

Zimbabwe’s mobile phone penetration is around 40%,  according to industry estimates, with Econet claiming 4m  subscribers in a nation of about 12m people. — Sapa-AFP