TECHNOLOGY giant Huawei announced Tuesday it has expanded Fourth Generation (4G) telecom services to six major northwestern Ethiopian cities.

In a statement, Huawei said it partnered with Ethio-Telecom to expand 4G services to more than a dozen northwestern Ethiopia cities.

These cities include Bahir Dar, the regional capital of Ethiopia’s northern Amhara regional state as well as DebreMarkos, Bure, Chagni, Dangela, Fenoteselam and Injibara cities.

“We hope that the launch of the 4G telecom network helps the region in closing the digital divide and enjoy the fruits of the digital era,” according to a statement from Huawei.

Huawei is a leading Chinese telecommunication infrastructure provider in Ethiopia.

With over two decades of engagement in Ethiopia’s development, Huawei currently created over 300 jobs and benefited over 45 million people with its services and products.

In February, Ethio-Telecom announced Chinese firm ZTE has expanded 4G telecom services to six major central Ethiopia cities.

The six Ethiopian cities are Adama, Bishoftu, Mojo, Dukem, Gelan and Awash-Melkasa where high mobile data traffic has been observed.

Until recently, only Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa was receiving 4G telecom services.

Ethiopia is undertaking extensive telecom modernization services with the help of Chinese firms as part of the eastern African country’s aim of realizing digital inclusion and boosting the size of its digital economy, with the provision of reliable, high band-width and high-speed telecom services.

Huawei saw steady growth in 2020, with its global sales revenue posting a year-on-year rise of 3.8 percent to 891.4 billion yuan (US$136.1 billion), according to its 2020 financial report released last week.

(Xinhua)