European and Latin American operator Telefonica has secured a $1 billion “export credit facility” to buy equipment from Sweden’s Ericsson, a strategy more commonly associated with deals involving Chinese vendors.

Reuters reports that the agreement is backed by two Swedish export authorities; the Swedish National Export Guarantee Board (EKN) and the Swedish Export Credit Corporation (SEK).

Sometimes referred to as ‘vendor financing’, this type of loan is made frequently in China and is often given by makers of telecom equipment or their national export banks to help major operators make purchases. Chinese vendors Huawei and ZTE have turned to state-linked banks to offer financing to their customers in recent years; one example includes a $20 billion deal ZTE struck in December with China Development Bank.

According to a statement quoted by Reuters, Telefonica said the network equipment and commissioning services from Ericsson were for various subsidiaries across the world. Only last week Ericsson announced it had won a major UK deal with Telefonica, while in recent months the two companies have signed 4G agreements in Brazil and Chile.

Reuters notes that Telefonica has also raised funds in various markets, printing a Swiss Franc bond in November and issuing bonds through its Chilean subsidiary in October. The operator also secured $472 million from an export credit facility in 2010 to buy equipment from Ericsson for businesses in Europe and Latin America, also with the backing of EKN and SEK.

Last week the carrier reported a 27 percent fall in full-year net profit but said it is on track to reduce debt and improve margins.