MegaFon on Thursday announced it has secure d US$600 million in financing from the China Development Bank (CDB).
The Russian telco said it will use the funds to procure network equipment and services from Huawei. It will also use some of the money to refinance its debt.
"We are very proud to have CDB as our long-standing financial partner," said Ivan Tavrin, CEO of MegaFon, in a statement. "This new Framework Cooperation Agreement is very important for both MegaFon and CDB as it sets the strategic direction for business development between our organisations."
"We believe that this new Framework Cooperation Agreement will allow us to underpin and even improve our superior network quality and at the same time effectively manage refinancing and currency risks," added Gevork Vermishyan, CFO of MegaFon.
MegaFon has also been strengthening its spectrum portfolio recently.
The operator revealed in August it has acquired four subsidiaries of regional mobile provider Smarts for an undisclosed sum.
The integration of Smarts Samara, Astrakhan GSM, Yaroslavl GSM, and Smarts-Cheboksary will bolster MegaFon’s 900-MHz and 1800-MHz spectrum in eastern and southern Russia, the telco said at the time.
The extra 1800-MHz spectrum in particular will enable MegaFon to accelerate its LTE network deployment, because it will be able to refarm the frequencies.
