CAIRO, Oct 26 (Reuters) - Vodafone Egypt, thecountry's largest mobile carrier, said on Sunday it wasnegotiating a 4 billion Egyptian pound ($560 million) creditline with a consortium of seven banks.
"The company is currently in the process of completion ofthe signing of a credit facility contract," a spokeswoman saidvia email.
The participating banks are Banque Misr, CommercialInternational Bank, Bank of Alexandria, HSBC, Barclays Bank,Emirates NBD and QNB Bank.
Vodafone Egypt, majority owned by British mobile operatorVodafone, is the leading communications player bycustomer numbers in the country of 86 million. It is also45-percent owned by fixed-line telecoms firm Telecom Egypt.
The spokeswoman did not say how the cash would be used butEgyptian financial newspaper al-Borsa said it would go towardsmodernising the company's network and improving services in theface of regular power blackouts.
Egypt is facing its worst energy crisis in decades, with lowproduction and high power consumption, resulting in regularpower cuts that have hit private companies, particularly in theindustrial sector.
($1 = 7.1500 Egyptian pound) (Reporting By Shadi Bushra, editing by David Evans)