OTE – Investments over 3 billion euros in Greece

OTE will make investments of over 3 billion euros over a five-year period, between 2022 and 2027, in Greece, one of the largest ever made by a private company in the field of telecommunications, as announced by the executives of Deutsche Telekom and OTE during meeting at the Maximos Palace with the Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. With these investments, which contribute significantly to the digital transformation of the country, in order to become a pioneer in Europe, the company will implement the program for the fixed network and will bring the optical fiber to 3 million homes and businesses, will upgrade the speeds  of fixed broadband internet for its subscribers for free, greatly increasing the penetration of ultra high speeds.

“The decision taken by the Board of Directors of Deutsche Telekom is a vote of confidence in the country. It is a vote of confidence for your excellent local team and for OTE. But I also believe that it is a vote of confidence in our policies that are pushing for digitization at a much faster pace and for us to be pioneers rather than tails at European level. We have discussed many times the opportunities offered by Greece as a country that can lead the digital transformation”, the Prime Minister noted, among other things, during his intervention.

“After the pandemic, many people have decided that Greece is an excellent place to work. But to make Greece even more attractive, we need good connectivity, with the widest possible population coverage, at the best possible prices to be competitive on this front. I believe that your decision really helps us to move in this direction,” added Mr. Mitsotakis.

“We have made great strides in mobile telephony. I’m very happy to hear that we have exceeded our 5G penetration targets. We have always known, of course, that we have not performed well in terms of fixed telephony connectivity. And, I’m really excited that you made the decision to focus on this part of the market, so we have at least three million new high-speed connections from OTE by 2027. As you said, we’re talking about 600,000 connections at incredibly fast speeds every year,” added Kyriakos Mitsotakis while welcoming “the decision you announced, your decision to double the existing speeds for fixed lines”.

Phaistos Investment Fund

Mr. Mitsotakis also referred to the Phaistos Investment Fund. “Equally important is your investment in the Phaistos Fund. It is an innovative fund that utilizes public money, but also private investment and will focus on the 5G ecosystem. What is happening in the field of high technology in Greece today is very interesting. The sector is really booming. We will also have a series of “unicorns” in Greece (start-ups worth over 1 billion). There are already such examples, something that was unthinkable a few years ago. Therefore, the idea of ​​having a vehicle that is dedicated to it and will invest in the 5G sector, in investments in the initial stages, seems to me a very reasonable investment both from a business point of view and from a capital point of view, especially given your overall presence in the country”.

Concluding, the Prime Minister noted that “as I listened to you I remembered an attack from the movie “Top Gun”, a movie from 1986. There Tom Cruise says “I feel the need, the need for speed”. So we all feel the need for speed, speed in terms of internet connections, broadband, but also speed in terms of executing your business plan “.

The head of Deutsche Telekom, Tim Hoettges, stated, among other things, that “with the FTTH rapid growth strategic plan, we strongly support the vision for the digital transformation of the country and give a vote of confidence in its development prospects. Deutsche Telekom’s investment in Greece is of strategic importance to us. Especially in recent years, the country has made great progress in all areas, proving that it is among the most advanced countries in Europe.”

The Minister of State and Digital Governance, Kyriakos Pierrakakis, stressed that “this investment is of strategic importance for the country. Its strategic importance lies in the fact that this company essentially doubles the number of FTTH lines that it will create in the country in the coming years and thus covers the largest part of these 2 million lines which were missing from the total investment plans of the providers, but also from the state plans in which we had participated, the Ultrafast Broadband. So, now, within a reasonable period of time, we are achieving the goals for the digitization of the telecommunications market in our country at the level of fixed telephony “.

The company head for Europe, Dominique Leroy, said that “state-of-the-art network infrastructure is a key factor in business extroversion, attracting investment, creating new jobs, radically changing everyday life. Fiber optics to the home is a one-way street for any country that aims to grow digitally and improve its international competitiveness. With a move that changes the data, we are moving forward with the largest investment that has been made in recent decades in Greece for telecommunications infrastructure, and we are putting the country in a leading position in the digital age.”

The President and CEO of OTE Group, Mr. Michalis Tsamaz, stated that “we are meeting the real needs of the State, society and the market, building today the network on which growth will be based in the coming decades and upgrading speeds for our customers for free.”

In addition to the other significant benefits, these investments will accelerate the country’s digital transformation and contribute to achieving its goals, as set out in the Digital Transformation Book and the National Broadband Plan.

The company also pledged to invest in the Phaistos Fund, which was raised with funds from the proceeds of the auction for 5G frequencies in order to return to the market and to enable even startups to present services that will be of direct interest to the Greek public, capable of producing added value. He stressed that they are considering investing in Greece for the production of innovative products.

From the government side, the meeting was attended by the Minister of State and Digital Governance, Kyriakos Pierrakakis, the Minister of State, Akis Skertsos, the Deputy Minister of Digital Government, Theodoros Livanios, the General Secretary, Of the Prime Minister, Alexis Patelis and the Director of the Press Office of the Prime Minister, Dimitris Tsiodras.

The company was represented by Deutsche Telekom CEO Tim Hoettges (online from Germany), Deutsche Telekom Europe Manager Dominique Leroy, OTE Group President and CEO Michalis Tsamaz and OTE Group Legal Director , Irini Nikolaidi.