Macedonian Telecommunications

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Summary Of Project Information (SPI)Project NameMACEDONIA - Macedonian Telecommunications ("MT") RegionEuropeSectorProject No008972Projected Board DateApril 24, 1998Company NameMacedonian Telecommunications ("MT")Technical Partner and/or Major Shareholders Macedonian Telecommunications (MT) is the state owned national and international telecommunications company.Project Cost Including proposed IFC investment Total project cost is approximately US$90 million. IFC would participate in a pre-privatization equity investment of US$50 million in the share capital of MT, of which US$25 million would be for its own account and US$25 million would be provided by other international financial investors. The balance of project cost would be funded by internal cash generation.Location of project and Description of site Throughout MacedoniaDescription of Company and Purpose of Project MT is the state owned national and international telecommunications company which has 408,000 lines in service, representing 20.5 lines per 100 population. The government is actively preparing to privatize MT by selling at least a 33.3% stake to a foreign strategic investor via a competitive bidding process. The authorities have sought the involvement of an IFI for the dual purposes of providing comfort to potential strategic investors and to finance the ongoing modernization and expansion of the telecommunications network (including the expansion of mobile telephony facilities) during 1998. Environmental Category and Issues This is a category B project according to IFC''s environmental review procedure. Environmental issues associated with this project include: right-of-way alignment, tower site selection, PCBs, solid and liquid wastes disposal. Occupational health and safety issues include fire prevention and general employee safety. The company''s operations and expansion of the system will be carried out in compliance with the applicable World Bank Group policies and environmental and occupational health and safety guidelines. The company has procedures in place for right-of-way and base station acquisition. Hazardous materials, such as PCBs and CFCs, will be handled according to applicable World Bank Group guidelines.The is from the Public Information Center.Date SPI sent to PIC March 24, 1998“This Summary of Project Information is prepared and distributed to the public in advance of consideration of the proposed transaction by the Corporation’s Board of Directors. It is provided for the purpose of enhancing the transparency of IFC’s activities and should not be construed as presuming the outcome of IFC Board consideration.”For Additional Information contact: Corporate Relations Unit -telephone: (202) 473-7711facsimile: (202) 974-4384Environmental documents for this project are available at http://www.ifc.org and from the World Bank InfoShop (http://www.worldbank.org/html/pic/aboutinfo.html).