Georgia’s Remote Regions to Receive Hi-Speed Internet Access

TBILISI – More than 2,000 cities and villages throughout Georgia will receive high-speed Internet network access, Georgia’s Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili announced at a cabinet session on Thursday.

The government has already approved a state program on broadband infrastructure development in Georgia and said the new program would be completely financed by Cartu Fund, owned by Georgian billionaire and former Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili.

Kvirikashvili said the USD 100 million charitable program would be implemented with the support of the Economy Ministry’s Innovation and Technology Agency.

“This is a truly historic achievement as access to information is the main condition to create a free society. It is of critical importance for education and for the development of civil society," Kvirikashvili said.

He also indicated that all interested private providers will be allowed to use the infrastructure to provide the Internet across the country.

According to the Georgian National Communication Commission up to 600,000 of Georgia’s 3.5 million people have regular internet access, 79 per cent of which reside in the capital Tbilisi.

The Caucasus Research Resource Centre in 2015 said that mostly young, educated Tbilisi residents use the Internet more frequently than other Georgians.

The same study highlighted that the most vociferous Internet users are by far 18 to 35-year-olds with a full 81 per cent of them in the Tbilisi, 61 per cent in other urban settlements and 39 per cent in rural settlements.

Only 1 per cent of Georgians has never heard of the Internet, lower than in previous surveys which showed that as much as 6% of Georgians had no previous knowledge or experience with the Internet.

By Tamar Svanidze
Edited by Nicholas Waller

Photo: Georgia's Agency of Protected Areas