Where do the International Where do the International

Organisations go from here?Organisations go from here?

Competitive skilled labour

Proximity to western Europe

Deregulation of Telecoms and IT Sector

Fixed line telephony already deregulated from January 1, 2001 in advanced countries

Most other countries to follow by the end of 2002

1. Unique Position of the 1. Unique Position of the EU accession countriesEU accession countries

2. Why EBRD?2. Why EBRD?

Fully consistent with our three Principles:

Transition Impact promotion of competition

downstream benefits to the private sector, especially SMEs

Additionality bring new companies and investors to the Region

Sound banking spread risk through portfolio approach

3. EBRD Exposure to Internet3. EBRD Exposure to Internet

Internet Framework Facility

Investment in Bulgaria and Slovenia completed

A number of other opportunities at ‘exploratory’ stage

Both generic and specialised EBRD funds have invested into a number of ISPs and e-services companies

Czech Online, Elender, Microlink, Sandy, GlobalNET, Orbitel, Samba, Centrum.cz

4. Focus of the Internet Facility4. Focus of the Internet Facility

Private SMEs that derive their revenues from technology and Internet related activities

Target investment areas:

Primary– EU accession countries (60% or more)

Secondary– other CIS and Eastern European countries

Average investment size: $1-3 million

Single investment size up to $5 million