| Type | Anonymi Etairia |
|---|---|
| Traded as | Athex: HTO, OTCBB: HLTOY |
| Industry | Telecommunications |
| Founded | 1949 |
| Headquarters | Maroussi, Greece |
| Area served | Greece, Southeast Europe |
| Key people | Michael Tsamaz (Chairman and CEO) |
| Products | Fixed line and mobile telephony, internet, digital television, IT services |
| Revenue | €5.483 billion (2010)[1] |
| Operating income | €384.9 million (2010)[1] |
| Profit | €39.6 million (2010)[1] |
| Total assets | €9.538 billion (end 2010)[1] |
| Total equity | €1.653 billion (end 2010)[1] |
| Employees | 31,090 (end 2010)[1] |
| Subsidiaries | Cosmote, Otenet, OTEGlobe |
| Website | www.ote.gr |
Hellenic Telecommunications Organization S.A. (Greek: Οργανισμός Τηλεπικοινωνιών Ελλάδος Α.Ε.), usually known by its Greek initials OTE, is the dominant telecommunications provider in Greece.[2] Formerly a state-owned monopoly, OTE was part-privatized in 1998 and is now listed on the Athens and New York Stock Exchanges. Since July 2009 Deutsche Telekom is the largest shareholder of the company.
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OTE was created in 1949 to bring several related public and private enterprises under one telecommunications umbrella. Prior to this, telephony, telegraphy, local and international connections were fragmented and ill-coordinated.
Up to 1998, the telecommunications market in Greece was a monopoly. The market was opened to competitors and OTE was gradually privatized. As a result, the Greek government currently holds 20% of the company's stock. Along with the rest of the telecoms market, OTE is regulated by the National Telecommunications and Post Commission (Εθνική Επιτροπή Τηλεπικοινωνιών και Ταχυδρομείων - EETT).
In 2007 Marfin Investment Group acquired 20% of the company, and in March 2008 sold it to Germany's Deutsche Telekom which later increased its stake to 25% plus one vote, matching that of the state.[3]
Following the sale of a further 5% in 2009[4] and another 10% in 2011[5] of OTE’s share capital by the Greek state to Deutsche Telekom, the state holds 10% and DT 40%.
The company covers the whole country with PSTN and ISDN telephone lines and also offers ADSL in most urban areas. OTE is a group of companies owning, besides the OTE fixed-line company, an ISP (Otenet), a mobile phone company (Cosmote) and other companies including OTE International Investments which in its turn owns telcos in Southeastern Europe (Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, etc.). On 3 November 2006 OTE sold its 90% stake in the Armenian telecom provider ArmenTel to a Russian company OJSC Vimpel-Communications. OTE also runs a TETRA network.
On July 14, 2009, the company announced its intention to endorse the VDSL technology and then upgrade its optical fiber network to cover the increasing demand of broadband internet services in Greece.[6]
OTE is in possession of various daughter-companies, including Cosmote, Otenet and OTEGlobe which offer mobile, ISP and Internet backbone services respectively. The quality of Otenet's services has often been described as 'inadequate'. The poor performance of their networks on Greece's many small islands has drawn considerable criticism, especially.[7][8][9] OTE owns 20% of Telekom Srbija as of 1997.
Area codes can be seen at List of dialing codes in Greece.
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