OPIC grants Wananchi Group $72 million loan

U.S. Government’s development finance institution, Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) has awarded Wananchi Group Holdings a $72 million (Ksh 6 billion) direct loan to expand its high-speed internet, television, and telephone services in the East African region.

The Nairobi based company is expecting to use the loan that was approved last week to finance the building of fibre-optic cable lines in Kenya. The venture will offer high-speed internet, television programming and voice-over internet telephonic services in the country.

Wananchi Group will also provide PayTV via satellite directly to Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda, while in the other East African countries deploy agents.

Wananchi Group Holdings, who own the popular brand ‘Zuku’ boasts of being the region’s leading provider of PayTV, broadband internet and VoIP services.

OPIC is a US development finance institution that mobilizes private capital for investment purposes, at the same advancing U.S. foreign policy.