Hellenic Telecommunications and Post Commission

Telecommunications firm OTE appears to have undertaken an initiative that will serve to increase the penetration of fiber-optic internet connections to the home (FTTH), having submitted the relevant proposal for approval to the National Telecommunications & Posts Commission (EETT).

Price increases in the tariffs of telecommunication providers are expected to follow the barrage of offers and discounts that dominated in the last few months. 

Greece's telecoms watchdog, the Hellenic Telecommunications and Post Commission (EETT), on Wednesday signed contracts with the country's three major telecoms providers Cosmote, Vodafone and Wind for the use of the 700MHz, 2GHz, 3400-3800 MHz and 26 GHz radio frequency band widths, which pave the way for a 5G network.

Greece has raised 372.26 million euros ($453.78 million) from granting rights for the use of different bands for the development of 5G networks, its telecoms regulator (EETT) said on Wednesday.

The tender for the auction of the fifth-generation wireless telecommunication network (5G) frequencies may be scheduled for this Wednesday, but the question is how fast this fast technology can roll out across Greece.

SpaceX, the space company of high-tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, plans to make its Starlink broadband satellite internet service available in Greece in the first quarter of 2021, Kathimerini reports.

The announcements by the Competition Commission and the study by Finnish company Rewheel regarding the high charges and "closed oligopoly" conditions in the Greek telecommunications market have generated major reactions both in the market and on a political level.

The Competition Commission last week sent a letter to three government ministers calling for oversight of telecoms and postal services to be taken away from the National Commission for Telecommunications and Posts (EETT). The letter, signed by the competition watchdog's president, Yiannis Lianos, was sent a day before it published a study on the Greek telecoms market.

Greece secured EU regulatory approval on Wednesday for a 300-million-euro ($334.4 million) scheme to roll out an ultrafast broadband network across the country.

The project is funded by the European Regional Development Fund, the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and private investors.

Greece's mobile phone services sector is trying to assess the impact of a decision by the telecommunications regulator to summon the three networks (Cosmote, Vodafone and Wind) to more than 800 hearings for as many violations regarding the operation of their antennas.