The European Investment Bank (EIB) is providing a loan of HUF 50.6 billion (EUR 200 million) to Magyar Telekom for the upgrading and further development of mobile networks to increase the quality and accessibility of broadband services in Hungary.
The EIB loan will co-finance the expansion of third-generation mobile coverage, particularly in rural areas of Hungary. This will help to increase access to modern high-speed mobile broadband services by 29%, adding some 250 000 new subscribers and reaching 67% of Hungary’s population by 2010. The project will lead to investments in rural areas where normally no network deployment would be made due to an insufficient financial return. Modern broadband is expected to be a major contributor to productivity growth in the information and communications technology sector.
By improving the access to modern information and communications technology networks, the project will support the EIB’s lending priority of promoting investment that leads to the establishment of a knowledge-based society and contribute to the development of an information society in Europe. This effort is in line with the Lisbon Strategy adopted by the EU Heads of State or Government in 2000.
EIB Vice-President Marta Gajecka, responsible for the Bank’s lending operations in Hungary, commented:
“I am very pleased that EIB funds are helping to strengthen the competitiveness of especially Hungary’s rural areas through a substantial improvement in the accessibility and quality of modern telecommunications services.”
Note to editors:
The mission of the EIB, the European Union’s long-term financing institution, is to contribute to the integration, balanced development and economic and social cohesion of the Member States by financing sound investment. Since 1990, the Bank has provided funds (including the current loan) amounting to almost EUR 9 billion in support of projects promoting EU policy objectives in Hungary. In 2008 alone, the Bank has signed lending contracts in Hungary totalling EUR 760 million.