| Type | S.A. |
|---|---|
| Industry | Telecommunications |
| Founded | 1998 |
| Headquarters | Athens, Greece |
| Key people |
Michael Tsamaz, OTE & COSMOTE Chairman & CEO |
| Products | Mobile telephony, Internet services |
| Revenue | 1,812.1 mil. € (2010) |
| Employees | 2,606 (June 2011): COSMOTE: 2,132 - Germanos: 474 |
| Website | www.cosmote.gr |
Cosmote is the largest mobile network operator in Greece, with 7.9 million subscribers. The company is headquartered in Athens and it is a fully owned subsidiary of the Hellenic Telecommunications Organization (OTE), the incumbent telecommunications provider in Greece. COSMOTE has developed business operations in three other SE Europe countries through subsidiaries: AMC in Albania, GLOBUL in Bulgaria, and COSMOTE in Romania, addressing an extended market of 45 million people. In all four countries COSMOTE counts approximately 20.4 million customers.
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COSMOTE launched commercial operations in Greece in April 1998 and reached 1 million subscribers a year later. In 2000, the company was listed in the Athens Stock Exchange. In 2001, COSMOTE reached a customer base of 2.5 million becoming the largest mobile network operator in Greece.
In 2006, COSMOTE acquired 99% of GERMANOS SA, a multinational chain of retail electronic goods vendors. During the same year COSMOTE was listed among the top performers in the technology industry worldwide according to BusinessWeek’s Information Technology 100 rankings, being the only Greek company in the list.
In February 2007, COSMOTE launched broadband Internet (ADSL) and mobile telephony services bundles for the first time in the Greek market. In November of the same year, OTE submitted a voluntary tender offer to acquire the remaining shares of COSMOTE. COSMOTE shares ceased trading on 1 April 2008, almost eight years after the company’s launch in the Athens Stock Exchange.
In 2008, COSMOTE signed an agreement with Telekom Slovenije for the transfer of 100% of the former’s participation in both COSMOFON and GERMANOS in the Republic of Macedonia. At present, COSMOTE has no operations in the country.
In 2010, COSMOTE upgraded its network, introducing speeds up to 42.2Mbps downlink & 5.8Mbps uplink and announced LTE trials on a pilot base.
In September 2011, COSMOTE’s 3G network population coverage exceeded 98%. In November of the same year COSMOTE renewed its current licence in the 900MHz band and secured additional spectrum in the 900 & 1800 MHz bands in the auction conducted by the Hellenic Telecommunications and Post Commission (EETT).
AMC Albania: COSMOTE acquired 85% of the share capital of the Albanian mobile operator AMC in 2000. In April 2009, COSMOTE raised its participation in AMC to 95% by acquiring a further 12.6% stake that was until then held by the Albanian State, against a cash consideration of 48.2 mil. Euro.
GLOBUL Bulgaria: COSMOTE assumed the management of OTE Group’s mobile assets in the Bulgarian mobile network operator GLOBUL in 2003 and acquired full ownership of the company two years later.
Cosmote Romania: In July 2005, COSMOTE acquired 70% of the Romanian operator COSMOROM which was the mobile arm of Romanian national incumbent operator Romtelecom. Later that year, COSMOROM was rebranded to COSMOTE Romania. In November 2009, COSMOTE acquired Telemobil SA (Zapp), the first CDMA 450 MHz mobile phone operator in Romania, thereby gaining access to 3G license and infrastructure in the country.
GERMANOS SA: A multinational retail network for telecommunication services and products with operations in Greece, Bulgaria and Romania, joined COSMOTE in 2006.
Under its Corporate Responsibility (CR) programme, COSMOTE supports actions related to the environment, society, the marketplace, the workplace and public awareness. Actions undertaken in this context include inter alia a joint sponsorship together with the Hellenic Telecommunications Organization (OTE) and OTEnet of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games telecommunications. COSMOTE has also initiated a Scholarship programme for university studies, awarding scholarships to high school graduates who have been admitted as first year students in higher educational institutions in Greece.
In October 2011, COSMOTE announced that it will support, together with OTE, the digitisation of the libraries of the Halki Seminary in Constantinople.
The Hellenic Telecommunications Organization (OTE) owns 100% of COSMOTE. On 14.5.2008 the Greek government and Deutsche Telekom (DT) reached an agreement regarding DT’s entrance in OTE’s share capital. The agreement provided that each party would have a stake of 25% + 1 share. On 3 August, DT increased its stake in OTE by 5% to 30%. In June 2011 the German Group acquired an extra 10% stake raising its participation to 40%.
| Revenues | EBITDA | EBITDA margin | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | 1,735.9 mil. € | 724.4 mil. € | 41.7% |
| 2008 | 1,843.1 mil. € | 781.9 mil. € | 42.4% |
| 2009 | 2,007.4 mil. € | 741.8 mil. € | 37% |
| 2010 | 1,812.1 mil. € | 667.6 mil. € | 36.8% |
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