EX-IM BANK $49.4 MILLION LOAN GUARANTEE HELPS U.S. EXPORTERS BUILD TELECOMMUNICATIONS NETWORK IN JORDAN
WASHINGTON, D.C.: New Generation Telecommunications Company (New Gen) of Amman, Jordan will build a nationwide radio dispatch and cellular telecommunications network with financing from the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank). Ex-Im Bank's $49.4 million loan guarantee will finance the U.S.-made telecommunications network equipment from Motorola Inc., of Schaumburg, Ill.,, and a number of other U.S. exporters and suppliers.
Jordan's strategic location and important role in the Middle East make this a particularly noteworthy transaction for U.S. exporters and the U.S. government to support, Ex-Im Bank Chairman Philip Merrill said. This telecommunications network will bring economic and social benefits to the people of Jordan, while supporting export-dependent jobs at a dozen U.S. companies.
The $85.4 million project, which includes an Integrated Digital Enhanced Network, or iDEN, supplied by Motorola, will be the company's first Middle Eastern network outside of Israel and is to be a model for selling iDEN networks to neighboring countries. The network features push-to-talk (similar to walkie-talkie) service and mobile telephony, text messaging, and data services, and is identical to that used for Nextel networks in the United States, Latin America and other operators in Asia. The network is to become operational between this spring and early 2005.
The project is Ex-Im Bank's largest financing in Jordan, and the Bank's first limited-recourse project financing in the country.
In addition to Motorola, U.S. exporters are Kathrein Inc. Scala Division, Medford, Ore.; Transistor Devices Inc., Hackettstown, N.J.; K & L Microwave Inc., Salisbury, Md.; Ditech Communications Corp., Mountain View, Calif.; SS8 Networks Inc., San Jose, Calif.; Oracle Corporation, Bethesda, Md.; Sun Microsystems Inc., Palo Alto, Calif.; JIT Warehouse Inc., Van Buren, Ark.; and Southern Distribution Telecom, Santa Teresa, N.M.
Ex-Im Bank this year marks its 70th year of helping finance the sale of U.S. exports, primarily to emerging markets throughout the world, by providing loan guarantees, export credit insurance, and direct loans. In fiscal year 2003, Ex-Im Bank, an independent federal agency, authorized financing to support $14.3 billion of U.S. exports worldwide. For more information on Ex-Im Bank and its initiatives to support Iraqi reconstruction, visit www.exim.gov.