Greece fast-tracks 5G following multi-spectrum auction
Greece's telecom market is susceptible to the country's volatile economy, and as a result revenue among the key operators has been variable. The incumbent telco OTE, supported by the organisational and financial clout of its parent Deutsche Telekom, reported a 16.6% fall in revenue for 2020, and the economic fallout of the pandemic continued to reduce revenue into 2021.Broadband penetration in Greece is developing steadily despite the difficult economic conditions. The main operators are concentrating investment on fibre-based next generation networks, enabling them to reach the European broadband targets for 2025. Their work is also supported by government ultra-fast broadband projects, largely funded by the EC and aimed at delivering a service of at least 100Mb/s to underserved areas.
Greece's well-developed mobile market is dominated by the three MNOs Wind Hellas, Vodafone Greece, and Cosmote. Operators continue to invest in LTE infrastructure and technologies to provide networks capable of meeting customer demand for data services. After extensive trials of 5G, the MNOs were able to launch commercial services in early 2021 following the December 2020 auction of spectrum in a range of bands. The rapid rollout of 5G encouraged Cosmote to close down its 3G network (a process expected to be completed by the end of 2021) and refarm spectrum for LTE and 5G.
This report introduces the key aspects of the Greek fixed-line telecoms, wholesale and IT market, outlining the regulatory environment, assessing the major players and providing relevant operational data and financial statistics on both the operators and the market. The report also covers the fixed-line broadband segment, as also the mobile voice and data markets, covering regulatory and sector developments as well as reviews of the key players.
The publisher notes that the outbreak of the Coronavirus continues to have a significant impact on production and supply chains globally. During the coming year the telecoms sector to various degrees is likely to experience a downturn in mobile device production, while it may also be difficult for network operators to manage workflows when maintaining and upgrading existing infrastructure.
Overall progress towards 5G may be postponed or slowed down in some countries.
On the consumer side, spending on telecoms services and devices is under pressure from the financial effect of large-scale job losses and the consequent restriction on disposable incomes. However, the crucial nature of telecom services, both for general communication as well as a tool for home-working, will offset such pressures. In many markets the net effect should be a steady though reduced increased in subscriber growth.
Although it is challenging to predict and interpret the long-term impacts of the crisis as it develops, these have been acknowledged in the industry forecasts contained in this report.
The report also covers the responses of the telecom operators as well as government agencies and regulators as they react to the crisis to ensure that citizens can continue to make optimum use of telecom services. This can be reflected in subsidy schemes and the promotion of tele-health and tele-education, among other solutions.
Key Developments:
- Regulator consults on renewing a provider of universal services;
- Cosmote selects Ericsson as its sole 5G RAN vendor, reaches 50% population coverage with 5G, plans to close down its 3G infrastructure by December 2021;
- Regulator completes multi-spectrum auction for 5G;
- Forthnet rebrands as Nova;
- EC approves 223 million for Greece's Ultra-Fast Broadband (UFBB) project;
- Vodafone planning to repurpose 3G network assets for LTE and 5G by 2022;
Table of Contents
- Key statistics
- Regional European Market Comparison
- Europe Telecom Maturity Index by tier
- Market Leaders
- Market Challengers
- Market Emergents
- TMI versus GDP
- Mobile and mobile broadband penetration
- Fixed versus mobile broadband penetration
- Country overview
- COVID-19 and its impact on the telecom sector
- Economic considerations and responses
- Subscribers
- Infrastructure
- Telecommunications market
- Market analysis
- Regulatory environment
- Background
- Regulatory authority
- Fixed-line developments
- Telecom sector liberalisation
- Privatisation
- Interconnection
- Access
- Number Portability (NP)
- Carrier selection and carrier preselection
- Universal Service Obligation (USO)
- European Electronic Communications Code
- Mobile network developments
- Significant Market Power (SMP)
- Mobile Termination Rate (MTR)
- Mobile Number Portability (MNP)
- Spectrum refarming
- 900MHz and 1800MHz licence renewal
- 1800MHz
- 800MHz and 2.6GHz spectrum auction
- 3.4GHz
- 5G spectrum auction - 2020
- Network sharing
- Mobile market
- Mobile statistics
- Mobile infrastructure
- 5G
- 4G (LTE)
- 3G
- GSM
- Other infrastructure developments
- Mobile data
- Short Messaging Service (SMS)/Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS)
- Mobile broadband
- Major mobile operators
- Wind Hellas
- Vodafone Greece
- Cosmote
- Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs)
- Mobile content and applications
- Fixed-line broadband market
- Market analysis
- Broadband statistics
- Government support
- Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) networks
- VDSL
- Fibre-to-the-Premises (FttP) networks
- Other fixed broadband services
- Fixed wireless (Wi-Fi and WiMAX)
- Digital economy
- E-government
- Infrastructure
- Fixed network operators
- Overview
- OTE
- Wind Hellas
- Nova (Forthnet)
- Vodafone Greece
- Cyta Hellas
- Telecommunications infrastructure
- National telecom network
- OTE
- NGA
- Alternative operators
- Satellite networks
- Submarine cables
- Smart infrastructure
- Appendix - Historic data
- Glossary of abbreviations
- Related reports
List of Tables
List of Charts
List of Exhibits
Companies Mentioned
- Vodafone Greece
- OTE (Cosmote)
- Wind Hellas
- Nova (Forthnet)
- On Telecoms
- Tellas
