The new wave of telecom investment in Africa by China and Japan comes after the Indian government's move to provide telecom equipment to Africa for the pan-African e-network project, expected to link all public administration on the continent. The project is expected to result in Indian manufacturers selling more telecom gear to Africa in the next five years.

With the support of the Indian government, Indian telecom companies including Bharti Airtel, Tata Communications and Essar Group are also steadily expanding telecom services in Africa. Airtel is operating in 16 African countries including Zambia, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Nigeria and Kenya.

In addition to directly giving loans to African governments for telecom development, the Chinese government is also using Huawei Technologies, China Telecom and ZTE to push for investment and sales of Chinese telecom equipment in Africa. As a result of Chinese government support for the telecom companies, Huawei Technologies and ZTE keep their prices extremely low and offer tailor-made solutions for poor African countries.

After buying Dimension Data, with operations across Africa, at $3.24 billion, Japanese mobile operator NTT is equally pushing for further investment in the African telecom market.