German telco helps bring high-speed internet to Georgia

A German telecommunications company is helping Georgia upgrade its infrastructure to bring high-speed internet to everyone in Georgia.

Currently work is underway to create special infrastructure to better connect 2,000 residential settlements in Georgia with high-speed internet.

German information and communications technology firm Detecon is assisting Georgia implement its High-Speed Internet for Everyone project. Once complete, 91 percent of Georgia’s population will have access to the internet.

Thanks to our consultants from German company Detecon we have created an ideal network. This is a model which enables us to create the whole network with fewer investments and in the most efficient way. We could bring this infrastructure to settlements, centres, schools, police offices, municipality buildings and more,” said Georgia’s Minister of Economy Dimitry Kumsishvili.

After creating the necessary infrastructure, the state will remove itself from the project and not interfere in the country’s internet business, promised Kumsishvili. He added consumers would pay a service fee to the internet provider company.

In January 2015 the Georgian Government revealed it wanted to provide the entire country with high-speed internet, and launched the High Speed Internet for Everyone project.

Initially the Government approached the private sector for their involvement in the project however at this stage no one in this sector has expressed interest in investing in the project, meaning the cost was left to the Government. At the time it was said $150 million USD was needed to implement the project.

In the middle of the year the Government announced a tender and began searching for a company who would assist the state to implement the project.

In August 2015 Detecon won the tender and signed an agreement with Open Net, an organisation within the Communications, Informational Technologies and Innovation Department of the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia.

The project is being financially supported by the Cartu Charity Foundation - a charity fund established and financed by Georgian tycoon and former Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili.

Latest predictions from the Government of Georgia state the project will be completed in 24 months and the country will be provided with high-speed internet by the end of 2017.

Currently it is believed about 40 percent of the population have access to the internet. Once the High-Speed Internet for Everyone project is fully implemented, internet will be available in 2,000 Georgian villages, meaning 91 percent of the population will have internet access.