Internet in Greece

The Internet in Greece relied on PSTN/ISDN modem dial-up from 1990 until 2003, when ADSL was commercially launched by incumbent operator OTE. ADSL is currently the main broadband standard. Greece also has 3G mobile broadband (HSPA) and a more expensive Satellite Internet access.

Summary

• Top-level domain: .gr^[1]
• Internet users: 6.0 million users, 52nd in the world; 56.0% of the population, 71st in the world (2012).^[2][3]
• Fixed broadband: 2.5 million subscriptions, 32nd in the world; 23.5% of the population, 40th in the world (2012).^[2][4]
• Wireless broadband: 4.8 million, 38th in the world; 44.5% of the population, 35th in the world (2012).^[5]
• Internet hosts: 3.2 million hosts, 32nd in the world (2012).^[1]
• IPv4: 5,549,568 addresses allocated, 0.1% of the world total, 515 addresses per 1,000 people (2012).^[6][7]
• Internet service providers (ISPs): Approximately 23 ISPs. Two Tier 1 ISPs.^[8] NCFCR Demokritos was the first Hellenic Internet Service Provider.

ADSL

A variety of new entrants have appeared since the liberalisation of the market and Local Loop Unbundling (LLU). These operators typically offer higher speed service and lower prices than OTE, but their customer support is in most cases inferior to that of the Greek incumbent.

New ADSL ISPs typically offer flat-rate nationwide voice services, ADSL access (up to 24 Mbit/s) and value-added services (including VoIP and IPTV), all of which are new to the Greek market. As such, the Greek press reports that OTE has lost nearly 500,000 households to new entrants and that customers continue to switch from OTE to LLU ISPs at increasing rates.

The main ADSL providers are: Cyta Hellas, Forthnet (see below), Hellas Online (see below), Otenet (OTE's affiliate ISP), Tellas (see below), and Vivodi Telecom (see below).

ADSL providers using local loop unbundling:

Approximately 23 ISPs total. 2 Tier 1 ISPs. OTE AE and OTE Global Solutions are part of the same group of companies. ^[8]

• Vivodi Telecom, a private company utilizing LLU since 2003, partly covers Athens and Thessaloníki with its network at the moment. In the past, it covered additional cities (such as Patras, Heraklion, Veria etc.). The customers in those cities were left without service. Vivodi offers triple play services based on ADSL2+, with speeds up to 20 Mbit/s, VoIP telephony and digital television.

• Tellas, a subsidiary of WIND Hellas, offers ADSL through its LLU network in districts of Athens, Thessaloniki, Larissa and Crete with speeds up to 12/1 Mbit/s. Tellas, which was the first to provide free national calls through their network, was severely criticized for taking advantage of the 12-month contracts in order to keep their prices high and uncompetitive. Under pressure, Tellas moved from 4/0,5 to 12/1 services in November 2007, but the service is apparently still unstable, as many of the clients complain about problems related to the faster connection and/or to the router. As of March 2008, Tellas offers unlimited phone calls to 38 countries and also 60 minutes of calls to Greek cellular networks. In May 2008, Tellas upgraded their downstream speed to 24 Mbit/s.

• Wind Hellas currently offers shared LLU and fixed telephony services with carrier preselect through its subsidiary Tellas and is expected to launch full LLU double and later triple play services under its brandname in the first quarter of 2008, eventually also renaming Tellas into Wind.

• Hellas Online (HOL), owned by Intracom Holdings (co-owner with Sitronics of Intracom Telecom, a leading Greek network equipment manufacturer and Integrator), offers up to 24/1 Mbit/s ADSL2+ & SDSL, connections in districts of Athens, Thessaloniki, Larissa, Katerini, Karditsa, Volos, Trikala, Thiva, Livadia, Chalkida, Patras, Nafplio, Mykonos. HOL merged with Attikes Tilepikinonies in 2007, acquiring an extensive optical SDH and Metro Ethernet network in the Attika region. HOL has the largest (amongst alternative carriers) optical backhaul networks based on DWDM technology. HOL has signed an agreement with Vodafone, according to which it is Vodafone's partner for broadband services in Greece. The partnership has led to a formal relationship with Vodafone acquiring 18,5% of HOL on August 2009.

• Forthnet, launched its based on LLU offers in early 2007, and was supposed to have covered about 50% of the Greek population by the year's end; however, the coverage wizard on its website has been accused of being inaccurate in its predictions since Forthnet often postpones availability in a telephone exchange from deadline to deadline. It currently covers districts of large cities and offers speeds up to 24/1 Mbit/s.

• On Telecoms, a totally new entrant in the Greek telecoms market, was set up by Greek and Italian managers and entrepreneurs, amongst whom are some of the founders of FASTWEB in Italy. On Telecoms launched its services in January 2007, using LLU as its last-mile medium. On Telecoms offers speeds up to 16/0,5 Mbit/s (As of 9 January 2007). In April 2009, On Telecoms joined forces with NetOne and Algonet.

• Net One, a new company which started offering 10/1 Mbit/s double play services in April 2007, now offers service at up to 24/1 Mbit/s. NetOne had been very stable and functional; however, their VoIP services are generally less popular than the traditional PSTN services offered by most other providers, because the majority of users are not familiar with VoIP setup and/or they do not realize that even PSTN services are actually VoIP with a PSTN last mile conversion, and thus, they are as reliable and functional as native VoIP. In March 2008, Net One incorporated Algonet and these two joined with On Telecoms in April 2009.

• Vodafone started offering ADSL full LLU access (up to 24/1 Mbit/s) in October 2007 as a reseller of HOL's LLU infrastructure. In September 2009, Vodafone sent letters out to all their DSL customers informing them that they will be moving the accounts directly to HOL. As of October 28, no further information has been given to the Vodafone customers, and even some HOL sales representatives remain uninformed.

• Cyta Hellas covers the whole country with digital PSTN and ISDN telephone lines and also offers ADSL in all urban areas. Cyta is offering fixed telephony, Internet service (Cytanet) has adopted VDSL technology that allows download speed up to 50Mbit/s and up to 10Mbit/s upload speed, the company is also offering, mobile telephony (Cytamobile-Vodafone) and Pay TV (Cytavision).

• Smaller companies also offer LLU services, but with limited coverage and uncompetitive prices.

Mobile broadband access

Mobile broadband offers are available from all three national mobile phone operators Vodafone Greece, WIND Hellas and Cosmote. Mobile broadband was heavily marketed during 2008 by all three, leading to a surge in mobile Internet usage, primarily with mobile professionals and young users.

Downstreams are realized via (HSDPA) technology with speeds for Wind Hellas and Cosmote reaching up to 28,8 Mbit/s and for Vodafone Greece up to 42,2 Mbit/s.^[9] Upstreams of all three providers are realized via HSUPA technology, reaching up to 5,76 Mbit/s.

Satellite broadband

Greece is covered by two satellite internet providers:

• Hellas-Sat offers satellite service under the "Hellas Sat Net" brandname. OTE, as one of the owners of Hellas Sat, offers Hellas Sat Net service through its own distribution channels (website, shops etc.). The subscription packages either include a one-year commitment that is automatically renewed as unlimited time service after one year, or as a six-month limited subscription for "seasonal business" (as described on the oteshop website) that is renewable on demand.

The equipment is installed by Hellas Sat accredited engineers and it includes a Satnet S3020 DVB - RCS VSAT Terminal (Advantech) satellite modem and a 0,96 m Antenna (satellite dish with transmitter receiver). Hellas Sat Net connections are also used to interconnect public administration offices and schools in remote areas (mostly remote islands of the Aegean Sea) to the national administration network Syzefxis and to the Internet).

• Tooway covers Greece with broadband satellite Internet. Since 2011 they offer a downstream speed of up to 10 Mbit/s and an upstream speed of up to 4 Mbit/s. They address private and business customers and have a variety of packages reaching from traffic metered packages to flatrate programmes.

Internet censorship and surveillance

There are no government restrictions on access to the Internet or reports that the government monitors e-mail or Internet chat rooms without appropriate legal authority.^[10]

The constitution provides for freedom of speech and press, and the government generally respects these rights in practice. Independent media are active and express a wide variety of views. Individuals can criticize the government publicly or privately without reprisal, and the government does not impede criticism. However, the law provides for prosecution of individuals who "intentionally incite others to actions that could provoke discrimination, hatred, or violence against persons or groups of persons on the basis of their race or ethnic origin or who express ideas insulting to persons or to groups of persons because of their race or ethnic origin." In practice the government has never invoked these provisions. The law permits any prosecutor to order the seizure of publications that insult the president, offend any religion, contain obscenity, advocate for the violent overthrow of the political system, or disclose military secrets. The law provides criminal penalties for defamation, however, in most criminal defamation cases, authorities released defendants on bail pending trial and they served no time in jail. The constitution and law prohibit arbitrary interference with privacy, family, home, or correspondence. However, NGOs such as the Greek Helsinki Monitor report that authorities do not always respect these provisions in practice.^[10]

On October 28, 2012 police arrested a Greek journalist for violating personal privacy laws for publishing the "Lagarde List" of more than 2,000 alleged Greek tax evaders with Swiss bank accounts. On November 1, a court acquitted him; prosecutors appealed the verdict, and a trial date was pending at the end of 2012.^[10]

In September 2012 the cyber-crime police arrested a 27-year-old man, charging him with “malicious blasphemy and insulting religion”. The man reportedly created a Facebook page under the name "Elder Pastitsios" that played on the name of a legendary Mount Athos monk famous for his prophecies about Greece and Orthodox Christianity. The cyber-crime police seized the man’s laptop and removed the Facebook page. No trial date had been set by the end of 2012.^[10]

On August 6, 2009, the most-visited Greek blog (troktiko.blogspot.com) was shut down. Although Google cites potential violations of the terms of use, comments implying other reasons behind the closure of troktiko were published in several leading Greek blogs. The blog went back on-line a few months later and suspended its activities in July 2010, after the assassination of Sokratis Giolias, its administrator.^[11]

On June 29, 2009, George Sanidas, the soon-to-be-retired Prosecutor of the Greek Supreme Court (Areios Pagos), declared that "Internet-based communications are not covered by current privacy laws" and are thus open to surveillance by the police. Such surveillance would be, according to Sanidas's mandate, completely legal. Following this proclamation, Greek bloggers, legal experts and notable personalities from the media have claimed that Sanidas's mandate contravenes both the Greek constitution and current EU laws regarding the privacy of Internet communications. Furthermore, this mandate has been greatly criticised as being a first step towards full censorship of all Internet content.^[12]

See also

• Greek Internet Exchange (GR-IX), an independent, non-profit Internet exchange point located in Athens.
• Greek Research and Technology Network (GRNET) (Greek: Εθνικό Δίκτυο Έρευνας και Τεχνολογίας, ΕΔΕΤ), the national research and education network of Greece.
• Hellenic Telecommunications Organization S.A. (Greek: Οργανισμός Τηλεπικοινωνιών Ελλάδος Α.Ε.), known by its Greek initials OTE, is the dominant telecommunications provider in Greece.

References

•  This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the CIA World Factbook.
•  This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Department of State.

External links

• Greece on the Internet, IPduh.
• www.adslgr.com, an independent review site for broadband in Greece (Greek).
• .GR Registry, domain name registry, Foundation for Research & Technology - Hellas (FORTH).
• .GR.COM, alternative domain name registry, CentralNIC.
• GR-IX, Greek Internet Exchange (Greek).
• ΕΔΕΤ (Greek), GRNET (English), research and education network of Greece.

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