Vodafone Greece (officially known as Vodafone-Panafon Hellenic Telecommunications Company S.A) is the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

subsidiary of

Vodafone Vodafone Group Public limited company, plc () is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Telephone company, telecommunications company. Its registered office and Headquarters, global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It ...

. In 2004 it was the leading mobile operator in Greece. Its headquarters are in

Chalandri Chalandri ( el, Χαλάνδρι, Ancient Greek: Φλύα, ''Phlya'') is a suburb in the northern part of the Athens agglomeration, Greece. It is a municipality of the Attica region. Geography Chalandri is a suburb in Northern Athens, around fr ...

- one of the northern suburbs of

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

Details

Subscriber numbers issued in Greece by Vodafone begin with the three-digit prefixes 694 and 695, followed by a unique seven-digit combination. However, not all such numbers necessarily belong to Vodafone subscribers because of the number portability for mobile telephony networks. The network name is displayed as "vodafone GR" on most handsets except for Apple devices where it has been shortened to display as "vf-GR" As a response to the 2019/20 COVID-19 pandemic, Vodafone has pushed out an update to all compatible devices to replace the network text with ''menoume spiti'', which translates to stay home. On 17 December 2020, the auction for the 5G frequencies was completed. The frequencies that Vodafone gained are as follows: * 14 blocks on the frequency zone of 3400-3800MHz * 2 blocks on the frequency zone of 700MHz * 4 blocks on the frequency zone of 2GHz * 2 blocks on the frequency zone of 26GHz Vodafone was the highest bidder for the frequencies spending up to 130 million euros. The 5G network became accessible Vodafone Greece subscribers in January 2021.

History

Vodafone Greece was established in Greece in 1992 under the trade name Panafon – with the participation of Vodafone Group Plc.,

France Telecom Orange S.A. (), formerly France Télécom S.A. (stylized as france telecom) is a French multinational telecommunications corporation. It has 266 million customers worldwide and employs 89,000 people in France, and 59,000 elsewhere. In 2015, ...

Intracom Intracom Holdings is the main shareholder of a group of multinational companies specialized in IT services, construction projects and defense electronics systems. Overview The core companies of the Intracom Holdings Group are: * Intrakat, one ...

and, Data Bank, and was officially renamed to Vodafone in January 2002. In December 1998, the company listed its shares in the Athens and London stock exchange, while in July 2004 it de-listed from ATHEX. Vodafone Group Plc. is the company’s major shareholder with 99.8% of Vodafone Greece shares. As of 2003, Vodafone has had an exclusive contract with popular pop

musician A musician is a person who composes, conducts, or performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general term used to designate one who follows music as a profession. Musicians include songwriters who wri ...

Sakis Rouvas Anastasios "Sakis" Rouvas ( el, Αναστάσιος "Σάκης" Ρουβάς, ; born 5 January 1972), also known mononymously as Sakis, is a Greek singer, film and television actor, businessman and former pole vaulter and model. Born in Cor ...

as the spokesperson for the company in the Greek advertising campaign. Rouvas has completed multiple commercials for the company as well as advertising the brand within his

music videos A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...

and

albums An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records coll ...

. Likewise, Vodafone is the primary sponsor of his large concerts and recordings. While other record labels and artists do advertisements for other mobile companies as an exchange for sponsoring, Vodafone is the only Greek mobile company to be advertised primarily by a sole artist, with Rouvas' effort being a major marketing ploy to youth and young adult consumers. Vodafone Greece has a deal with

Nova A nova (plural novae or novas) is a transient astronomical event that causes the sudden appearance of a bright, apparently "new" star (hence the name "nova", which is Latin for "new") that slowly fades over weeks or months. Causes of the dramati ...

to offer the

Nova Sports Nova Sports is a Greek sports pay television network owned by Nova, a subsidiary of Greek telecommunications company of the same name. It was launched in 1994 as ''SuperSport'' and at the time was the first premium sports service in Greece. It i ...

channels for its own IPTV service. In March 2021 it was announced that Vodafone TV had 150,000 subscribers, making it the third-largest TV provider.

Vodafone CU

Vodafone CU (Creative Users) is a specialised prepaid SIM card, which offers discount prices for those who are between 18 and 24 years old. It also serves those who are 25 years and older. Vodafone CU debuted as Panafon CU in October 2000, it is completely owned by Vodafone Greece and doesn't have the same offers as Vodafone.

Hol & CYTA Hellas

Hellas online Hellas Online was one of the leading Greek fixed-line telephony service providers based in Athens. Founded in 1993, Hellas Online (hol) was one of the first Internet service providers in Greece offering public dial-up Internet access. It evolved ...

or just Hol was a fixed-line and internet service operator founded in 1993. Hol owned and operated a fibre optic network of approximately 3,500 kilometres (November 2008). Its core backbone network is the second largest network in Greece after that of

OTE OTE is the national telecommunications provider of Greece. OTE may also refer to: * Ocean thermal energy conversion, a renewable energy source * Oda of Haldensleben (978–1023), daughter of the Margrave of the North March, Theoderich * On-ta ...

, the incumbent operator. In 2014 Hellas online merged with Vodafone and for the first time, Vodafone Greece started to offer fixed-line and internet services at home. Cyta Hellas was a fixed-line operator owned by Cyta Cyprus that offered home internet, TV services and was an mvno operator on Vodafone's network. On 1 April 2019, Cyta Hellas merged with Vodafone, gaining 300,000 customers. The customers got a notice that they would be transferred to Vodafone as part of Vodafone's agreement to cease the Cyta Hellas brand by 2020. Vodafone also took 1,200 kilometers of optical fiber that Cyta had built.

References

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