SHANGHAI (Reuters) – ZTE Corp, China’s second-largest telecoms gear maker, said on Wednesday it has agreed to build a national network in Ethiopia.

The network, which will allow Ethiopia Telecommunications Corp to provide next-generation network services, will cover 14 major cities in the east African country including the capital, Addis Ababa, ZTE said in a statement.

ZTE had already won a deal last year to help ETC build an Internet protocol backbone network, the Chinese firm said.

Chinese telecoms gear makers such as ZTE and local rival Huawei Technologies Co Ltd [HWT.UL] have made strides in recent years into more mature markets, and have long been established in emerging areas such as India and Africa.

(Reporting by Sophie Taylor; Editing by Keiron Henderson)