MSICIH is a holding company with mobile cellular investments primarily in Africa. Currently, MSICIH has stakes in operations in Egypt, Gabon, Hong Kong SAR, Malawi, the Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone, Uganda and Zambia. In addition, the Company has won additional licenses in Burkina Faso, Chad and the Democratic Republic of Congo and recently started developing and implementing the networks. MSICIH owns another cellular license in Guinea (purchased from a winning bidder). MSICIH is also a 50% partner in a consortium that submitted the highest bid to become the strategic equity partner in Tanzania Telecommunications Company Limited, the national wireline operator. The Company is currently in negotiations with the Government of Tanzania to complete the privatization. Furthermore, MSICIH is negotiating the purchase of 60% of the shares of a cellular company in Sudan, Mobitel. With the exception of Zambia, in all Sub-Saharan African countries where MSICIH owns a majority stake, MSICIH''s operating subsidiary operates or will operate under the brand name Celtel. The proposed IFC investment will be used to build-out the networks in any of these countries (subject to final agreement between IFC and MSICIH), and the first two operating companies that are likely to receive financing are Celtel Malawi and Celtel Congo S.A.

Celtel Malawi is owned by MSICIH (80%), the Malawi Development Corporation (10%), and the Investment and Development Bank of Malawi (10%). Celtel Malawi was awarded its nation-wide GSM 900 license by the Ministry of Information on December 25, 1998 following a competitive tender. The license has a 15-year life and is renewable. Celtel Malawi''s sole competitor is Telecom Network Limited ("TNL"), which is owned by Telekom Malaysia (60%) and Malawi Posts and Telecommunications Corporation, the state-owned wireline operator.

Celtel Congo S.A. is located in the Republic of Congo, and is owned by MSICIH (70%) and Gestilac (30%), a Swiss company with strong ties to the local business community. Celtel Congo S.A. was awarded its GSM 900 license on December 15, 1998 after the Ministry heard presentations from a number of interested operators. Celtel Congo S.A.''s only current competitors are Cyrtel, which is a 50:50 joint venture between Investcom and France Telecom, and Libertis, majority owned by Orascom, which just began operations in May 2000.

The proposed project would be IFC’s first telecommunications investments devoted specifically to Malawi and the Republic of Congo. The primary role of IFC in this project would be to reach countries where IFC has not had a major impact in the past, and provide long-term financing to be used in countries where any sort of commercial financing is scarce. IFC would also play an important catalytic role, encouraging investments from other financial institutions that would be unlikely to invest without IFC’s interest or involvement. Third, IFC’s investment would demonstrate support for private sector development in the Republic of Congo and Malawi at a critical time in these countries.

MSICIH’s investment activities will have a broad beneficial impact on the entry of private investors to infrastructure sectors in Africa. This proposed investment would be the largest investment in Malawi (where IFC''s total held portfolio as of June 30, 1999 was US$1.9 million) and would re-introduce IFC to the Republic of Congo (where IFC has only two investments, the most recent committed in 1996), thus providing demonstrations of the value of private sector involvement in basic infrastructure services. Moreover, this Project would help modernize and expand the telecommunications networks in these countries, where penetration is extremely low. Finally, the proposed investment program is designed to expand current telecommunications services options and improve service quality, in some cases bringing modern telecommunications technology to some regions of the countries for the first time.