OTE

The clash between the management of telecommunications giant OTE and its employees has reached boiling point: After the company decided not to refill eight security positions following dismissals, the workers' union called a strike for all working days from December 21 to January 12.

The development of fifth-generation cell telephony (5G) networks in Greece has been caught in the crossfire of the US-China trade war. That conflict's outcome is yet to be seen and pressure is growing on the Greek side, which has turned to the European Commission for protection.

Fourteen years after a judicial inquiry was first launched, the trial into the 1997 Siemens bribery scandal concluded on Tuesday with an Athens court finding 22 of the original 64 defendants guilty of a range of crimes, including money laundering. The sentences are expected to be announced on Friday.

Greece's biggest telecoms operator OTE posted a 3.8 percent rise in third-quarter core profit on Thursday thanks to growing business in its home market.

Investor interest in the Greek state's UltraFast BroadBand (UFBB) project illustrates the swing toward infrastructure: A total of 10 investors have expressed non-binding interest in the project, including one from abroad. The latter is Oman Fiber Optic (OFO), which is based in Muscat, Oman.

The Council of State, Greece's top administrative court, upheld a lower court decision to slap a 3.46-million-euro fine on OTE Telecom for installing phone booths in the northern port city of Thessaloniki without permission from the municipality.
A section of the court decided that the ruling of an administrative appeal court in Thessaloniki was in line with its case law.

Public schools in Greece will get faster internet service, the Education and Digital Governance ministries said Monday, announcing a program to convert existing ADSL lines to VDSL.
About 1.37 million students and 142,000 teachers at 11,400 schools across the country are expected to benefit from the changes.

The Romanian government is examining the sale of OTE subsidiary Telekom Romania to French group Orange.
The Romanian landline telephony company, formerly known a Romtelecom, is a 54 percent subsidiary of Greece's OTE Group, with the Romanian state controlling 46 percent.

OTE telecom announced on Wednesday the conclusion on Tuesday of the bookbuilding process for the issuance of a 500 million-euro seven-year bond in international debt capital markets.
The issuance was strongly oversubscribed allowing tight pricing. The coupon was set at 0.875 percent, the lowest ever achieved, OTE stated.

It is happening sooner than anticipated: Two major Greek companies - namely oil refiner Hellenic Petroleum and OTE telecom - are preparing to borrow hundreds of millions of euros from the markets. Meanwhile, the country is about to rid itself of the expensive loans granted by the International Monetary Fund and plans to tap financial markets.