Kyrgyz digital project beat fibre targets, missed private investment goal

The Digital CASA project in the Kyrgyz Republic beat its targets for fibre, internet access and connections to public institutions but mobilised US$2.01 million of qualifying private investment, the World Bank's completion report dated 19 June 2026 says.

The figure compares with a revised target of US$8 million that had itself been cut from US$60 million at approval, and the report rates the outcome moderately satisfactory and the risk to development outcome substantial. The report is back in view because a World Bank specialist told the International Telecommunication Union's regional forum in Dushanbe on 29 and 30 September that a new US$80 million digital operation is under preparation for the country, the forum's draft outcome report says.

What was delivered

Bank financing was US$50 million at approval and US$57 million after US$7 million of additional financing in January 2024, and the report shows US$52.05 million disbursed. Its main results:

• The national fibre-optic network grew from 36,530 km in April 2023 to 58,899 km in July 2025, against a target of 39,030 km. The indicator measures the national network, and the sections reviewed do not split out the length financed by the project.
• The project installed 212 points of presence for wholesale access and 30 backbone nodes, and added cross-border fibre links with Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
• A total of 3,882 social facilities were provided with internet access, of which 1,432 were connected directly by the project, and a seven-year financing mechanism for their service after closing was agreed.
• People newly using broadband rose from 2.3 million in 2017 to 4.7 million, against a target of 3.9 million. The report says earlier gains were driven largely by market developments outside the project.

A slow start and a private-money shortfall

Disbursement was US$1.53 million at the 2021 mid-term review and US$6.61 million, or 13 per cent of the original US$50 million envelope, in May 2023, the report says. Ratings for development objectives were unsatisfactory from October 2021 to June 2022, moderately satisfactory from June 2023 and satisfactory in December 2025. The first large connectivity contract was signed 3.8 years after effectiveness, in December 2022, and the government cloud contract 5.5 years after, in August 2024. Both had to be re-bid for lack of vendor interest, and extensions totalled 31 months. The implementing agency changed management seven times and was renamed three times. The Bank rated its own quality at entry moderately unsatisfactory.

The connectivity contract went to a joint venture of Kyrgyztelecom and a private operator, Elcat. The venture invested US$7.82 million in project-linked infrastructure, close to the US$8 million target, but most of it is attributed to Kyrgyztelecom, which the report calls de facto state-controlled and therefore ineligible, leaving US$2.01 million that counts. A planned regional cloud datacentre, the other main channel for private capital, was dropped after a feasibility study found it commercially unviable.

The report says Elcat was nationalised shortly after the connectivity work was completed, and that this and a shift to more centralised control of international connectivity "ran counter to the project's crowding-in intentions". It warns that the changes may weaken incentives for private investment, with possible effects on prices and service quality, and cites them in rating the risk to outcomes substantial.

Measures that do not agree

The report gives internet penetration of 65 per cent at completion, against a 57 per cent target, and cites a news report of 98 per cent by early 2026. World Bank-published data put the share of individuals using the internet at 92.0 per cent in 2024, and fixed broadband at 7.8 subscriptions per 100 people, up from 6.4 in 2023, or 560,290 subscriptions. At the Dushanbe forum the head of the Kyrgyz communications regulator, Altynbek Toktorbaev, cited construction of around 3,500 km of fibre and connectivity for about 99 per cent of settlements, with satellite pilots for mountain areas, according to the draft outcome report. These figures measure availability, use and subscriptions differently, and none of the documents reconciles them.

Corridor Signal did not find the new US$80 million operation in the Bank's public project listing on 17 October. The completion report says the Digital Code entered into force in February 2026 and that its effect depends on secondary legislation and enforcement.