Deutsche Telekom

German telecommunications giant Deutsche Telekom has given a vote of confidence in the Greek economy and its prospects.

As pointed out by Dominique Leroy, the member of Telekom's Board of Directors responsible for Europe, during a meeting with Greek reporters at this year's MWC in Barcelona, Telekom continues to steadily invest in Greece and its prospects through OTE Group.

Discussions between Deutsche Telekom and Greek technology company Desquared lasted more than a year, but now 20% of the latter has come under the control of the German telecommunications group. Kathimerini understands the purchase price of 20% of Desquared, which has a valuation of more than 20 million euros, was set at €5 million.

A majority of EU countries have rejected a push by Europe's big telecoms operators to force Big Tech to help fund the rollout of 5G and broadband in the region, people familiar with the matter said.

OTE Group, the country's biggest telecoms operator, reported a 4.6% rise in first-quarter net profit thanks to cost containment and its growing Greek mobile business.

Net profit came in at 135.3 million euros, up from 129.4 million euros in the first quarter last year.

Over the years, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly made the hand sign of the ultra-nationalist, neo-fascist, and Islamist 'Grey Wolves', a paramilitary branch of his ruling coalition partner Devlet Bahçeli's Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).

Erdogan's re-election as president in the general elections scheduled for June, 2023, hinges on the MHP's full support

The alleged wrongdoing went back even further than 2011.

MakTel once dominated the mobile market in North Macedonia, operating since 2001 as a joint venture between the state and Magyar Telekom, the Hungarian subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom. Its only competitor was the far smaller Cosmote network.

OTE said on Thursday it had launched its 5G services in Athens and other big cities. The group, which is 46% owned and managed by Deutsche Telekom, said that its mobile business, Cosmote, was the first to provide its subscribers with 5G offerings in Athens, Thessaloniki and other cities at speeds exceeding 1 gigabit per second.

Greece's biggest telecoms operator OTE posted a 9.4 percent rise in fourth-quarter core profit on Wednesday thanks to growing business at its home market.

While talks between the management and the unionists at OTE are resuming on Thursday, aiming at the signing of a new collective labor contract, it appears the Deutsche Telekom-owned group is entering a fresh period of shrinking both its staff and its operation costs.

Cosmote is Greece's first mobile communications provider to prepare for the 5G era via a network upgrade contract it is to sign soon with Sweden's Ericsson.

The estimated €170 million contract, expected to be signed early January, includes both fourth- and fifth-generation equipment. It involves upgrading existing base stations and antennas across Greece as well as creating new ones.