This came to light Friday when a highly powered five-member delegation of the firm led by Guanghan met President Prof. Peter Mutharika at Kamuzu Palace in Lilongwe to sell their investment idea.

The Beijing Xinwei Telecom Technology Inc. Chief Scientist said they had noted that the rural masses in the country lacked communication technologies that were not only reliable but affordable too.

“What makes our company different from others is that we develop technologies and operate telecommunication services while the telecommunication companies in Malawi are only operators and no one is developing communication technologies,” said Guanghan.

He said the firm understood challenges rural people in developing countries faced and the company’s main focus had always been developing affordable communication solutions for such people so as to accord them a chance to communicate with the rest of the world just like those living in towns and cities.

Guanghan said Beijing Xinwei Telecommunication Technology had also rolled out in Cambodia, among other countries, where the lives of people in the rural areas were improving following the affordable technology solutions.

“We would manufacture very affordable cell phone of as low as US$10 – US$20 (MK4,500. – MK9,000) which could provide everything including voice calls, videos, internet, among other applications,” explained the Chief Scientist.

He said in Cambodia, for instance, people in the rural areas were paying as low as 2 dollars for internet and call usage for the whole month.

In his remarks, President Mutharika said the investors were welcome and he described ICT as a sector that had high potential in the country.

Mutharika noted that Malawi was one of the countries in Africa with highest rates of telecommunication and that cheaper solutions as suggested by the Chinese company would be ideal.

“Affordability of telecommunication services is very important especially to the rural masses because 80 percent of the population in Malawi lives in the rural areas,” explained Mutharika.

He assured the Chinese prospective investors that Malawi government would give all investors maximum security both for their investments and their personnel.

The president further said government had deliberately eased the process of acquiring investment licenses as a way of wooing investors into the country.

Accompanying the president at the meeting were Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation Minister, George Chaponda, Minister of Trade and Industry, Joseph Mwanamveka, Minister of Information, Tourism and Culture, Kondwani Nankhumwa and his Principal Secretary, Chimwemwe Banda.