Chinese telecom firms Huawei and ZTE have won contracts worth $75 million to expand the mobile phone network in Libya, the state-run telecommunications office said on Friday.

A total of $58 million has been awarded to expand the existing network of the Libyana public mobile phone company from one million lines to 6.5 million lines, a statement said.

ZTE and Huawei will also expand the mobile netwrok along the Libyan coast. In line with a second contract worth $17m, Huawei alone will instal the first phase of a fibreoptic network in the Libyan capital, Tripoli.