Afrimax Group raises US$120 million for pan-African LTE investment

Afrimax Group has secured US$120 million of funding from a group of global investors, as it looks to expand the rollout of LTE networks across sub-Saharan Africa.

Netherlands-based Afrimax, which last year struck an agreement with Vodafone to boost the company’s African presence, owns TD-LTE spectrum covering 12 countries across the continent.

More recently, it launched Vodafone Uganda, which will offer services over a new 4G network as well as 2G and 3G services on existing infrastructure, through a Partners Market agreement with Vodafone.

Vodacom, in which Vodafone is the majority shareholder, is a more commonly known brand in sub Saharan Africa but the service in Uganda is targeted at the multinational enterprise market for whom Vodafone presumably has more resonance.

Afrimax also reportedly has deployments in Tanzania and the DRC. It said in a statement it is “building the largest portfolio of 4G wireless broadband networks across sub-Saharan Africa”.

Vodacom operates in both Tanzania and DRC but Afrimax presumably avoids competition by targeting multinational users.

The latest funding, led by Japanese financial company Mitsui, brings together a number of other private investors including Spain’s Torreal, and existing shareholders Four G Capital, and the IFC, which is part of the World Bank Group.

Smile Telecoms, another private mobile and Internet company operating in Africa, announced raising US$365 million in funding to boost its LTE network last week.