EBRD supports Georgia’s digitalization process with €1.9m loan

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and EU launch first project under DCFTA Facility in Georgia with €1.9 million loan in the process of switching from analogue to digital broadcasting.

Georgia should finish the digitalization process before the deadline of June 2015.

By the decision of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the European Union (EU), European countries should be switched from the existing analogue to digital broadcasting by 2015. Georgia signed the agreement and joined this international obligation in Geneva in 2006.

EBRD provided a €1.9 million loan to Georgian broadcast operator Stereo+ Ltd, together with Georgia’s one of the leading banks TBC Bank. The European Union (EU) supported this transaction through a risk-sharing facility.

EBRD decided to perform the transaction which was the first project under the EBRD-EU DCFTA (Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area) Direct Support Facility for small and medium sized-enterprises (SMEs), which will help businesses improve product quality and service standards, access to new markets and more generally accelerate economic development.

Small and medium-sized businesses are the backbone of a dynamic economy – this is the reason why the EBRD supports SMEs through its activities in Georgia,” said Francis Malige, EBRD Managing Director for Eastern Europe and the Caucasus. "This financing package opens new and long-term opportunities for local businesses. We are especially proud to sign this transaction on the first day of the EBRD Annual Meeting and Business Forum in Tbilisi,” Malige added.

Georgia’s Economy Ministry, which was responsible for the digitalization process in Georgia, designed the strategy for the switchover. Georgia should be switched to the DVB - T2 (Digital Video Broadcasting - Terrestrial second generation), according to this strategy.