Greece is currently entering one of the most crucial moments in its history.
Mobile network operators have been spearheading efforts, taking Greece from a single copper telecom access network into the fibre optics era and from asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) to NGA.
Telecom experts say the biggest challenge for Greece right now is to keep up with customer demand for faster internet connections, both in fixed and mobile, amid rising demand for content and the creation of content.
Greece’s mobile phone market is made up primarily of three players: Cosmote, WIND, and Vodafone, a subsidiary of Vodafone Group.
Cosmote, a fully owned subsidiary of the Hellenic Telecommunications Organization (OTE), is leading the pack with a 46% share of the market, followed by Vodafone (31%) and WIND (22%), according to telecoms regulator Hellenic Telecommunications and Post Commission (EETT). Forthnet, one of the country’s important internet service providers (ISPs), is also preparing to enter the market as a mobile network provider via the mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) model, through the Vodafone network. Their launch is scheduled for 2020.
OTE, 46%-owned and managed by Germany’s Deutsche Telekom, has committed to investing €2 billion until 2022 in Greece, says Evrikos Sarsentis, Mergers, Acquisitions & Investor Relations Director at OTE Group.
“Within this total, OTE aims to make available fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) to 1 million homes, or approximately 25% of all Greek households,” says Sarsentis.
“This is, by far, the largest investment by a Greek telco and follows another period of major investments in the previous four years, of equivalent size, when OTE rolled out fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC) to about two thirds of the population, and established the best 4G network in the country,” adds Sarsentis.
OTE is also preparing for the next generation of wireless communication – 5G – which the EU expects to launch in all member states towards the end of 2020.
Local operators Vodafone and WIND also plan to invest at least €500 million each over the next four to five years in the development of next generation networks. Vodafone recently launched its first pilot 5G network in the central Greek city of Trikala, which is the first ‘smart city’ in Greece, and has implemented a number of innovative technologies there.
WIND, mainly owned by investment funds GoldenTree and Cyrus (but being considered by other private equity funds for a possible transaction), is investing an estimated €100 million per year in a bid to connect residents with broadband communications, says George Tsaprounis, Head of Corporate Affairs.
“We have already completed the construction of 300,000 optical fibre lines across Greece and at the same time, our 4G-network coverage is at about 95%,” says Tsaprounis
Greece is undergoing a digital transformation to reduce bureaucracy, simplify procedures, and help the country converge with the EU average by the end of the government’s current term, says Digital Governance Minister Kyriakos Pierrakakis.
