GICT main product lines

• Policy advice for the ICT sector, including telecommunications liberalization, privatization, and regulation; Internet services, such as e-connectivity, e-government, and e-commerce; and postal and broadcast services.
• Loans to governments to subsidize private providers of ICT infrastructure to rural households and the urban poor as well as public postal networks.
• Investment capital for private provision of ICT infrastructure and services.
• Grants for innovative projects and knowledge sharing on development opportunities offered by ICTs.

World Bank Loans
The World Bank provides ICT-related policy advice and support. It is currently active in over 80 countries world-wide. It also finances projects with large components of information technology. These include projects such as information kiosks in rural areas, e-procurement applications for e-government projects, connecting schools and universities to the Internet, and IT investment for public sector modernization. Furthermore, most World Bank projects, regardless of sector, involve ICT components.

IFC Private Sector Investments
The International Finance Corporation (IFC) provides long-term financing for private providers of information and communication infrastructure and services in developing nations. It focuses on building successful ICT businesses in emerging markets. IFC's ICT-related investments average $300m per year, leveraging $8 of private financing for every dollar that IFC invests.

MIGA Guarantees
Guarantees promote private financing in member countries by covering risks which the private sector would not normally be in a position to absorb or manage. Between fiscal years 1990 to 2003, the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) underwrote 30 telecommunications-related guarantees for a total of $748m.

Research, Analysis and Advice
The World Bank dedicates substantial resources towards ICT research and analysis, using insights gained to engage its clients in policy dialogue and sector analysis.

Knowledge Sharing and Capacity Building
The World Bank also helps client countries enhance their capacity to generate, access and use knowledge from all sources. A series of knowledge programs have been initiated to help countries assess what they need to be effective players in the global knowledge economy, to share development issues, efforts, and opportunities, and to deliver distance learning activities.

Grants Administered by the World Bank

The World Bank administers several grant facilities that may provide financial support for projects in the ICT sector. These include the multi-donor Information for Development Grants (infoDev) and Public-Private Infrastructure Advisory Facility (PPIAF) programs, the Global Partnership on Output-Based Aid (GPOBA) and bilateral trust funds, as well as the World Bank's own Institutional Development Fund.