Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi has formally opened a Chinese-built facility in Maputo that will begin this year broadcasting terrestrial digital television on 18 channels to over 400,000 households in his country, China Radio International (CRI) reports.

At the opening ceremony last Friday, Mr Nyusi thanked China for its technical and financial support in linking Mozambique to the outside world and improving its telecommunications infrastructure, according to the Portuguese language service of the Chinese state-run radio station.

The facility will spur social and economic development in Mozambique, the report quotes Chinese Ambassador to Mozambique Wang Hejun as saying.

China contributed US$156 million towards the cost of the facility, and Chinese media company StarTimes Group built it, CRI says.