The German Government allocated ad hoc funds to support electronic communication service providers in the de-occupied territories of Ukraine within the ReACT4UA / EU4Business. programme. In total, 70 grants of up to 10,000 euros each will be provided (in hryvnia equivalent) in a transparent application process which starts now.
According to the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, 91 operators in Ukraine are on the verge of bankruptcy because of the evacuation of the population due to military actions and the inability of many Ukrainians to pay for Internet access services due to the increase in unemployment. Even in such difficult conditions, operators are trying to restore networks and provide access to the Internet. Lack of connectivity is a barrier for people to come back to their homes.
“It is necessary to support broadband operators so that they remain in business and can restore Internet connections for citizens, businesses and authorities in the deoccupied territories of Ukraine. For this, Germany provide grants,” explained Hagen Ettner, the Programme Director for ReACT4UA / EU4Business, GIZ.
Those electronic communication service providers that work in the Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, Donetsk, Kherson, Zaaporizhzhia, Mykolaiv, Luhansk, and Kyiv (excluding the city of Kyiv) regions can apply for the grant. Priority would be given to those applicants that work or plan to restore working on the deoccupied territories.
The grants will be aimed at meeting the main needs of operators: purchase of equipment and materials, payment of electricity bills, rents, and other payments necessary to maintain the networks, salary of employees. Details are available here.
Application deadline: November 30, 2023 at 23:59 (time of Ukraine).
Application form, eligibility criteria, evaluation process, and other information regarding the grants is available here.
Interested applicants are invited to join the online consultation where clarifications on the application process would be given. The online consultation will be held on November 14, 2023 (Tuesday), 11:00-13:00. Please register here: https://forms.gle/VfYmSkaL7fj3aUG39. The data is gathered and processed by the NGO “Better Regulation Delivery Office”.
For additional information please contact:
Kateryna Parunova, grant manager, [email protected]. Please specify in the subject of the letter “EU4Business Telecom – additional questions”.
Reference information
Non-reversible financial support (grants) to Ukrainian telecommunication operators in de-occupied territories is provided within the international cooperation programme “ReACT4UA (Resilience/Recovery Accession – Competitiveness – Trade) / EU4Business: SME Recovery, Competitiveness and Internationalisation”, initiated by the European Union and the German Government. The grants were made possible by ad-hoc funding from the German Government. The programme aims to support Ukraine’s economic resilience, recovery and growth, create better conditions for the development of Ukrainian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as well as support innovation and exports.
The strategic implementer of the programme is the German federal company “Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH”. The implementing partner is Better Regulation Delivery Office (BRDO). The support is given by: The Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine.
The contents are the sole responsibility of BRDO and do not necessary reflect the views of the European Union and the German Government.
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