EBRD weighs up to €48.38 million for Tajikistan's fibre and rural broadband

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is considering a sovereign loan of up to €48.38 million to Tajikistan to expand the country's fibre backbone network and improve broadband infrastructure, particularly in rural areas, the bank's project summary document disclosed on 25 September shows.

The project, called Tajikistan Rural Broadband, carries the status "In Exploratory, Pending Final Review" and an approval date of 16 December 2026.

What the loan would finance

The summary says the project aims to expand broadband coverage and access to digital services in underserved areas, while supporting wholesale open-access infrastructure that enables telecommunications operators to extend last-mile connectivity. The borrower is the Republic of Tajikistan, and the project would be implemented through the national telecommunications operator, which owns and operates the country's core telecommunications infrastructure, the document says. It does not name the operator.

The EBRD finance summary lists EUR 48,383,549.59 against a total project cost of EUR 48,438,944.91. The bank would therefore provide almost all of the funding, leaving a difference of about EUR 55,000 that Corridor Signal calculated from the two figures. The summary page does not state the loan's tenor or pricing, a construction timetable, the route length or the number of settlements to be connected.

The document gives the project an expected transition impact score of 78 and says it is expected to support improvements in the telecommunications sector, including aspects of the regulatory framework, through targeted interventions. On additionality, it says the bank provides long-term financing for digital infrastructure in underserved areas and supports open-access infrastructure and regulatory improvements aimed at strengthening the telecommunications market. It is categorised B under the bank's 2024 Environmental and Social Policy and rated medium-high risk, and the page says environmental and social documentation is not available for the project.

Tajikistan's connectivity gap

World Bank indicators for fixed broadband subscriptions and internet use, last updated on 8 October, show that fixed broadband is scarce in Tajikistan and internet use trails its Central Asian neighbours. Tajikistan had 0.98 fixed broadband subscriptions per 100 people in 2023, the latest year available, up from 0.59 in 2022. In absolute terms that was 102,229 subscriptions, against 59,586 a year earlier. The share of the population using the internet was 55.8 per cent in 2024, up from 48.9 per cent in 2022.

• Fixed broadband subscriptions per 100 people in 2024: Uzbekistan 34.7, Kazakhstan 15.3 and Kyrgyzstan 7.8, against 0.98 for Tajikistan in 2023.
• Internet users as a share of the population in 2024: Kazakhstan 93.4 per cent, Kyrgyzstan 92.0 per cent, Uzbekistan 89.5 per cent and Tajikistan 55.8 per cent.

The gap between the two measures indicates that most internet use in Tajikistan runs over mobile networks rather than fixed lines. That is Corridor Signal's reading of the data, not a World Bank finding.

Roadmap, memorandum and approval date

Asia-Plus reported on 30 September that the bank had not made a final decision on financing. It said Tajikistan and the EBRD agreed an investment cooperation roadmap for 2026 to 2030 in September that names rural broadband among key areas, alongside energy, transport, water supply and irrigation. It also reported that Tajikistan's Ministry of Finance, the Communications Service under the government and the EBRD signed a memorandum in June on modernising and expanding the national telecommunications network, with the parties planning to attract about $43 million. The project summary is denominated in euros, and neither source reconciles the two figures. Asia-Plus added that, according to the bank, it has carried out around 200 projects in Tajikistan since 1993, with total investments above €1 billion.

The summary lists 16 December as the approval date, and its status line says the project is pending final review.