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The Economist has published a story about the mobile phone business in Africa:

Out of Africa

A new kind of telecoms operator is evolving in Africa and the Middle East

That mobile phones are transforming economic and social life in Africa is now widely understood. Less well known are the companies that are leading the charge. Following a flurry of deals over the past 18 months, five African and Middle Eastern operators are now vying for supremacy...

...The arrival of Middle Eastern and African operators, with their innovative, low-cost business models, could put pressure on European operators. Celtel's One Network, for example, eliminates roaming charges for customers travelling between the adjacent countries of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. Subscribers can add airtime in different currencies and carry it across borders. Celtel has, in effect, created a unified market of the kind that regulators can only dream about in Europe. African operators are also pioneering per-second billing and mobile-phone banking.

The rise of these regional operators brings great joy to Mo Ibrahim, the founder of Celtel, who is regarded as one of the fathers of Africa's mobile industry. He has created a $100m venture fund for African entrepreneurs and a foundation that offers a $5m prize to African leaders who promote good governance. As pan-African operators emerge, they are not just providing telecoms services across the continent—they are a force for change within it.

What is the connection with China?

As African telecom operators expand, they are going to need more and more cheap hardware. Guess where they are going to get it.

The below is excerpted from an article on an IT website called Cabi:

Chinese Telecom Vendors Pursue African Deals

ZTE Corp., the second largest telecom equipment maker in China's mainland, has formally signed a memorandum of understanding upon its cooperation with the government of Lesotho...

...Shenzhen-based ZTE will provide industrial communication device and employee training service to Lesotho. Moreover, the telecom vendor will purchase a certain stake in Telecom Lesotho to become one of telecom operators marching into the promising communication market of Lesotho...

...Huawei Technologies, the biggest telecom equipment maker in China's mainland, is reported to help Ghana set up village phone networks for USD 30 million and help Kenya set up an Internet- based electronic government network...

Do a Google search for Africa Huawei to see plenty more of the same thing.