Telecom Arg 2022

completed

 The proposed investment consists of a financial package to Telecom Argentina S.A. (“Telecom” or the “Company”) for an aggregate amount of up to US$202 million (“m”), comprising (i) an A loan, for IFC’s own account, in an amount of up to US$50m; (ii) a B loan, for the account of the participants, in an amount of up to US$148m; and (iii) an overlay interest rate swap for a loan equivalent exposure of up to US$4m. The purpose of the investment is to fund the expansion of the Company’s 4G mobile and FTTP/B (fiber-to-the-premise/block) fixed broadband coverage, and to upgrade the existing network’s capacity, speed and energy efficiency (the “Project”). The Project is expected to result in improved quality of digital connectivity, increase subscriber growth, improve energy efficiency of the network, and benefit underserved areas such as La Consulta in the Province of Mendoza, Villa El Salvador in San Juan or Rivera in the Province of Buenos Aires.  The enhancements to existing facilities will not only expand connection speeds, but  also  incorporate  new  technology  that  measurably  improves  energy  efficiency.  On the broadband business, further expansion of its FTTP/B will deliver more products to its customers and also increase  the  capacity  and  reliability  of  the  fixed  network.  For the same two-year period, the expansion of the FTTP/B network to approximately 1,200,000 households is planned, extending the service in towns such as Tartagal (Salta Province) and Tafi Viejo (Tucuman Province) in the Norwest of Argentina and Allen and Plottier (Neuquén Province) in Patagonia.  IFC’s experience with investments with Telecom in the period 2018-2022 has been positive and has exhibited satisfactory environmental and social (E&S) performance during implementation. Previous IFC projects with Telecom include: (i) Telecom Personal committed in 2016 (https://disclosures.ifc.org/project-detail/ESRS/36171/telecom-personal-argentina), and (ii) Telecom Argentina II committed in 2019 (https://disclosures.ifc.org/project-detail/ESRS/40857/telecom-argentina-ii).