Finnvera guarantees Nokia’s supplies to Telecom Argentina

Finnvera has granted a buyer credit guarantee for the supply of Nokia’s telecommunications equipment and software to Argentina. This is Finnvera’s second guarantee for Telecom Argentina S.A., the first, of USD 96 million, having been executed in 2019.

The credit amount covered by Finnvera is USD 30 million. The buyer credit was granted by Finnish Export Credit ltd. From the financing perspective, Finnvera’s guarantee is expected to improve Telecom Argentina’s access to USD funding from commercial lenders at more favorable terms.

The J.P. Morgan Development Finance Institution was engaged by Telecom Argentina to act as development finance structuring agent and provided an assessment to Telecom Argentina of the anticipated development impacts of the financing and its alignment with the United National Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These included SDG Targets regarding increasing access to information and communication technology, improving energy efficiency and reducing waste.

According to the assessment the transaction is anticipated to have several positive impacts. It expects to improve the quality of mobile telecom services and expand access to high speed internet in Argentina. The transaction is expected to advance environmental sustainability by redeploying the replaced equipment on other sites which also increases the  network capacity in new areas. In addition, the new equipment also has lower energy consumption compared to the legacy technology. The Transaction is also expected to generate indirect jobs for technical personnel to install the equipment, which will be provided special training to handle novel technologies.