Croatian CATV Firm Gets $6 Million US Funding

ZAGREB, Oct. 30 -- Two US equity funds have invested $6 million in a Croatian cable television network that eventually plans to challenge the national fixed telephone monopoly once the market liberalizes in 2003.

The US-government-funded Small Enterprise Assistance Fund and private regional fund Southeast Europe Equity Fund, managed by George Soros, boosted the capital of a local cable TV operator, Digital City Media (DCM), with $3 million each. DCM has some 40,000 customers in three major Croatian cities -- Zagreb, Split and Osijek -- and plans to expand with a new broadband cable network to around 200,000 customers in 2005. The company plans to lay optic fiber cable in the three cities, a project that will cost some $40 million over four years.