Early Warning System

Regions

Africa

Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.

Countries

Kenya
Senegal

Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.

Financial Institutions

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)

International, regional and national development finance institutions. Many of these banks have a public interest mission, such as poverty reduction.

Project Status

Proposed

Stage of the project cycle. Stages vary by development bank and can include: pending, approval, implementation, and closed or completed.

Bank Risk Rating

Environmental and social categorization assessed by the development bank as a measure of the planned project’s environmental and social impacts. A higher risk rating may require more due diligence to limit or avoid harm to people and the environment. For example, "A" or "B" are risk categories where "A" represents the highest amount of risk. Results will include projects that specifically recorded a rating, all other projects are marked ‘U’ for "Undisclosed."

Voting Date

Jul 8, 2026

Date when project documentation and funding is reviewed by the Board for consideration and approval. Some development banks will state a "board date" or "decision date." When funding approval is obtained, the legal documents are accepted and signed, the implementation phase begins.

Borrower

Axian Telecom Holding and Management PLC

A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.

Sectors

Communications
Infrastructure

The service or industry focus of the investment. A project can have several sectors.

Investment Type(s)

Loan

The categories of the bank investment: loan, grant, guarantee, technical assistance, advisory services, equity and fund.

Investment Amount (USD)

$ 195.88 million

Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Currency conversion note:
Bank reported 170
Converted using 2026-06-07 exchange rate.

Project Cost (USD)

$ 195.88 million

Bank Documents

PSD Translation (French)

Primary Source

Original disclosure @ EBRD website

Updated in EWS Jun 22, 2026

Disclosed by Bank Jun 7, 2026

Contribute Information
Can you contribute information about this project?
Contact the EWS Team

Project Description

If provided by the financial institution, the Early Warning System Team writes a short summary describing the purported development objective of the project and project components. Review the complete project documentation for a detailed description.

According to the Bank’s website, the project consists of the provision of a long-term loan in favour of Axian Telecom Holding and Management PLC, a pan-African integrated telecommunications operator. The loan is composed of two tranches (i) one committed tranche to finance the capital expenditures of Axian Telecom in Senegal and Kenya, supporting the modernisation and expansion of its mobile and fixed networks, and (ii) one uncommitted tranche for future organic and inorganic expansions in Africa.

The committed tranche of the loan will finance Axian Telecom's multiiyear capital expenditure plans in Senegal and in Kenya, including in Senegal the expansion of its active (4G/5G) and passive mobile networks, targeting especially regions outside of the capital city, modernisation of its core infrastructure and deployment of its fibre network, as well as in Kenya, the modernisation and expansion of its fibre network, following the Company's entry in the country through the acquisition of Wananchi.

Early Warning System Project Analysis

For a project with severe or irreversible impacts to local community and natural resources, the Early Warning System Team may conduct a thorough analysis regarding its potential impacts to human and environmental rights.

The transaction, under a corporate loan structure to Axian Telecom, a pan-African telecommunications Group, will finance Axian's multi-year capex plans: including telecom equipment, customers' premises equipment, fibre cables, software, and other associated components. The assessed risks pertained primarily to ESMS adequacy and performance, digital risks surrounding user privacy, data security, cybersecurity and sovereign entity and/or security/intelligence service access. The risk rating is Low-Medium.

Investment Description

Here you can find a list of individual development financial institutions that finance the project.

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)

An up to EUR 170 million committed tranche of the loan, ranking pari-passu with the Group's other long-terms financings.
Including an up to EUR 20 million equivalent tranche to be potentially provided in Kenyan Shilling (KES) for KES-denominated capital expenditures in Kenya.
The loan may be structured as an A/B loan, mobilising commercial lenders as B-lenders.

Private Actors Description

A Private Actor is a non-governmental body or entity that is the borrower or client of a development project, which can include corporations, private equity and banks. This describes the private actors and their roles in relation to the project, when private actor information is disclosed or has been further researched.

Axian Telecom Holding and Management PLC is a pan-African integrated telecommunications operator, active in 10 countries: Senegal, Kenya, Tanzania, Madagascar, Togo, Comoros, Uganda, DRC, Malawi and in French Reunion and Mayotte islands.

The Group (i) provides the full suite of mobile and fixed-broadband services under the unified brand-name Yas, (ii) has its own telecom infrastructure (towers, backbone, data centres, submarine cables), acting as passive infrastructure provider in some of its markets, and (iii) offers mobile financial services ("MFS") through its Mixx by Yas brand in Tanzania, Senegal, and Togo, and through its Mvola brand in Madagascar and Comoros.

Axian Telecom is credit rated B+ / stable outlook by both S&P and Fitch.

Private Actor 1	Private Actor 1 Role	Private Actor 1 Sector	Relation	Private Actor 2	Private Actor 2 Role	Private Actor 2 Sector
-	-	-	-	Axian Telecom	Client	-

Contact Information

This section aims to support the local communities and local CSO to get to know which stakeholders are involved in a project with their roles and responsibilities. If available, there may be a complaint office for the respective bank which operates independently to receive and determine violations in policy and practice. Independent Accountability Mechanisms receive and respond to complaints. Most Independent Accountability Mechanisms offer two functions for addressing complaints: dispute resolution and compliance review.

Axian Telecom Holding and Management PLC
https://www.axian-telecom.com/

ACCESS TO INFORMATION

You can request information by emailing: accessinfo@ebrd.com or by using this electronic form: https://www.ebrd.com/eform/information-request

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF EBRD

The Project Complaint Mechanism (PCM) is the independent complaint mechanism and fact-finding body for people who have been or are likely to be adversely affected by an European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)-financed project. If you submit a complaint to the PCM, it may assess compliance with EBRD's own policies and procedures to prevent harm to the environment or communities or it may assist you in resolving the problem that led to the complaint through a dialogue with those implementing the project. Additionally, the PCM has the authority to recommend a project be suspended in the event that harm is imminent.

You can contact the PCM at: pcm@ebrd.com or you can submit a complaint online using an online form at: http://www.ebrd.com/eform/pcm/complaint_form?language=en

You can learn more about the PCM and how to file a complaint at: http://www.ebrd.com/work-with-us/project-finance/project-complaint-mechanism.html