OREANDA-NEWS. August 27, 2008. The EBRD is supporting the expansion of the privately-owned Tajik telecommunications company ISP Telecom-Technology Ltd with a loan of up to US 2.7 million. The funds will be used to co-finance essential communications links and the modernisation and expansion of the company?s networks. ISP Telecom-Technology is working on the introduction of a new service which will combine fixed telephony with internet access, reported the press-centre of EBRD.

ISP Telecom-Technology was set up in 1994 and in 1998 became the first internet provider in Tajikistan. It opened the first internet cafe in the capital Dushanbe in 2000 and the same year installed its first satellite station enabling it to offer internet services to customers in cities in the remote north of Tajikistan. The company also offers voice and data links, calling cards and is expanding rapidly into the access area.

ISP Telecom-Technology is currently building a Next Generation Network which would allow the company to connect corporate and private customers in urban and rural areas without the need for deploying expensive cable connections. The technology will enable the company to offer high speed internet, fixed and mobile telephony as well as other services to end-users without having to use other access networks.

Michelle Senecal de Fonseca, EBRD Director Telecommunications, said the modernisation and improvement of telecommunications networks and services are a strategic objective for the EBRD in its support of the development of the private sector. “Despite rapid growth in recent years Tajikistan has a slower penetration rate than other countries in the region. Therefore the loan to ISP Telecom-Technology serves as an example for what the Bank can do as both business and private customers will benefit from improved and enhanced internet and telecoms services”, she added.

The EBRD finance is provided under the Direct Lending Facility for Tajikistan, an instrument to meet the growing demand for medium-sized loans, with medium to long term maturities, in Early Transition Countries.

The EBRD’s Early Transition Countries Initiative, launched in April 2004, includes Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, the Kyrgyz Republic, Moldova, Mongolia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Using a streamlined approach to financing medium scale private sector enterprises, the initiative is aimed at mobilising more investment, and encouraging economic reform.