The telecommunications and postal services market in Greece is regulated by the

Hellenic Telecommunications and Post Commission The Hellenic Telecommunications and Post Commission ( el, Εθνική Επιτροπή Τηλεπικοινωνιών και Ταχυδρομείων, ''Ethniki Epitropi Tilepikoinonion kai Tachydromeion'') or EETT is a Greek Greek may refer to ...

(EETT).

Landline telephone

COSMOTE COSMOTE MOBILE TELECOMMUNICATIONS S.A. ( el, COSMOTE ΚΙΝΗΤΕΣ ΤΗΛΕΠΙΚΟΙΝΩΝΙΕΣ Α.Ε.) known as just Cosmote is the largest mobile network operator in Greece. The company is headquartered in Athens and is a fully owned subsidia ...

, the former state monopoly, is the main player in fixed-line telephony. Since the liberalization of the telecommunications market, COSMOTE (OTE) has been slowly losing market share to "alternative", competing telecom operators, such as

Vodafone Vodafone Group plc () is a British multinational telecommunications company. Its registered office and global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It predominantly operates services in Asia, Africa, Europe, and Oceania. , Vod ...

Wind Wind is the natural movement of air or other gases relative to a planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heating of land surfaces and lasting a few ho ...

, Nova. As of 2005, COSMOTE's share on the market hovered around 76%. Telephones – main lines in use: 6,348,800 (2004). Telephone system: *modern networks reach all areas; microwave radio relay carries most traffic; 35,000 kilometers of

optical fiber An optical fiber, or optical fibre in Commonwealth English, is a flexible, transparent fiber made by drawing glass ( silica) or plastic to a diameter slightly thicker than that of a human hair. Optical fibers are used most often as a mea ...

s and extensive open-wire network; submarine cables to off-shore

islands An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

. *domestic: 100% digital; microwave radio relay, open wire, and submarine cable. *international: 100% digital; tropospheric scatter; 8 submarine cables;

satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioi ...

earth stations – 2 Intelsat (1 Atlantic Ocean and 1 Indian Ocean), 1 Eutelsat, and 1 Inmarsat (Indian Ocean region).

Cellular network

Greece has three mobile telecom companies;

Cosmote COSMOTE MOBILE TELECOMMUNICATIONS S.A. ( el, COSMOTE ΚΙΝΗΤΕΣ ΤΗΛΕΠΙΚΟΙΝΩΝΙΕΣ Α.Ε.) known as just Cosmote is the largest mobile network operator in Greece. The company is headquartered in Athens and is a fully owned subsidia ...

and

WIND Wind is the natural movement of air or other gases relative to a planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heating of land surfaces and lasting a few ho ...

. Number of active lines: 20,285,000 (September 2009), which means 180% penetration.

Satellite

Greece owns one telecommunications satellite, named Hellas Sat, which provides telecommunication services in a major part of Eastern Europe and Western Asia.

Internet

4,893,840 IP addresses, 1.6638e+30 IPv6 addresses, 5,920,000 Internet Users, 2,396,700 broadband connections, 23 Internet Service Providers.

Mass media

Radio broadcast stations: The state radio and television broadcasting agency is ERT (Elliniki Radiofonia kai Tileorasi – Greek Radio & Television). The station owns 3 national television stations,

ERT1 ERT1 ( el, ΕΡΤ1, "ERT Ena"), is a Greek free-to-air television channel owned and operated by state-owned public broadcaster Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation ( el, EPT – Ελληνική Ραδιοφωνία Τηλεόραση). It is the c ...

ERT2 ERT2 ( el, ΕΡΤ2, "ERT Dyo") is a Greek free-to-air television channel owned and operated by state-owned public broadcaster Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation ( el, EPT – Ελληνική Ραδιοφωνία Τηλεόραση). It is the c ...

and

ERT3 ERT3 ( el, ΕΡΤ3, "ERT Tria") is a Greek free-to-air television channel owned and operated by state-owned public broadcaster Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation ( el, EPT – Ελληνική Ραδιοφωνία Τηλεόραση). It is an en ...

which is based out of

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region of ...

. In January 2006, ERT launched

digital terrestrial television Digital terrestrial television (DTTV or DTT, or DTTB with "broadcasting") is a technology for terrestrial television in which land-based (terrestrial) television stations broadcast television content by radio waves to televisions in consumers' ...

with 3 channels. By March 2006, at least 65% of the Greek population was able to view Digital TV for free with the use of set-top boxes. ERT also operates 7 national radio stations, including the Voice of Greece, which broadcasts internationally via shortwave. ERT is based in Athens. The first non-

pirate Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...

private radio station to broadcast in Greece was Athens 98.4 FM, in 1987. Private television began in November 1989, when

Mega Channel MEGA Channel, also known as MEGA TV or just MEGA, is a television network in Greece, that broadcasts a mix of foreign and Greek programming. It is the first and the oldest private television network in Greece. History Mega Channel (1989–2018) ...

began operating. Today, over 1,000 radio stations and approximately 150 television stations broadcast in Greece. Digital satellite broadcasting began in 1999 by the South-African conglomerate

Naspers Naspers Limited is a South African multinational internet, technology and multimedia holding company headquartered in Cape Town, with interests in online retail, publishing and venture capital investment. Naspers' principal shareholder is its ...

which uses the trademark Nova. The Broadcasting Media in Greece is considerably free and fair. Established state-run and commercial TV networks broadcast nationally and compete actively against each other, and hundreds of thousands of viewers subscribe to satellite pay-TV services. Domestically made variety programmes, comedies and game shows dominate the peak-time TV schedules and are highly popular and widely shown in Greece.

Main television stations in Greece

Private:

ANT1 Antenna, better known as ANT1, is a television network airing in Greece. The alternate spelling is wordplay in Greek; ''ena'' (ένα) is the Greek number ''1'' (one), thus ''ANT1'' is pronounced the same as ''Antenna'' (Αντέννα). It laun ...

, Star Channel,

Alpha TV Alpha TV is a Greek free-to-air channel, being one of the biggest stations in Greece. The station features a mix of Greek and foreign shows with an emphasis on information. The studios are located in Kifissia and Pallini. Alpha TV is owned by Alph ...

, Open TV,

Makedonia TV Makedonia TV (Greek: Μακεδονία TV) is a Greek private national free-to-air television channel broadcasting from Marousi, Athens and earlier from Thessaloniki, the capital of Macedonia in Greece. It was founded in 1991 by a group of jour ...

Skai TV Skai TV (Greek: ΣΚΑΪ) is a Greek free-to-air television network based in Piraeus. It is part of the Skai Group, one of the largest media groups in the country. It was relaunched in its present form on 1 April 2006 in the Athens metropolit ...

and several other regional and local stations. Public: ΕΡΤ1, ΕΡΤ2 and ΕΡΤ3 (

Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation The Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation ( el, Ελληνική Ραδιοφωνία Τηλεόραση AE, Ellinikí Radiofonía Tileórasi SA) or ERT () is the state-owned public radio and television broadcaster of Greece. History Overview ERT b ...

Further Information

Radios: 5.02 million (1997) Television broadcast stations: 64 (plus about 1,000 low-power repeaters); also two stations in the US Armed Forces Network (1999) Televisions: 2.54 million (1997)

Mail

Hellenic Post The Hellenic Post S.A. ( el, Ελληνικά Ταχυδρομεία, abbreviated ΕΛΤΑ, ELTA) is the state-owned provider of postal services in Greece. It succeeded the former government Postal Service, founded in 1828. ELTA provides a ''uni ...

is the state-owned postal service provider of Greece. A number of private courier services, such as DHL, ACS,

United Parcel Service United Parcel Service (UPS, stylized as ups) is an American multinational shipping & receiving and supply chain management company founded in 1907. Originally known as the American Messenger Company specializing in telegraphs, UPS has grown t ...

and FedEx (Speedex), also operate in Greece.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Telecommunications In Greece Telecommunications in Greece