OTE
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OTE is the national telecom provider of Greece.
Standing for Hellenic Telecommunication Organization(Οργανισμός Τηλεπικοινωνιών Ελλάδος), OTE is the goverment-owned telecommunications carrier of Greece. Up to 1998, the telecommunications market in Greece was a monopoly. The market was opened to competitors and OTE was partially privatized (10% of the stock is owned by the French telecomunciations giant <insert giant here>). OTE still remains a virtual monopoly, because of it's previous role as the primary provider of telecommunication services in Greece. The Greek goverment, still holding 50% of the company's stock, heavily backs up the company and its price policies.
The company covers the whole country with digital PSTN and ISDN telephone lines and also offers ADSL in all urban areas. OTE is a group of companies owning an ISP (Otenet), a mobile phone combany (Cosmote) and many other companies including OTE International Investements which in its turn owns lots of telcos in Armenia and in the Balkans (Bulgaria, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Serbia etc.). OTE also runs a TETRA network.
Criticism on price policy
Greece, as of July, 2005, holds the record as the country with the most expensive fees in Europe on both its aDSL and POTS services.
OTE and COSMOTE (the mobile phone company of OTE) sponsor of the 2004 Olympics in Athens.
It is also serves telephone books and is divided into nine different areas:
- Athens-Piraeus-Eleusis (three books)
- Achaea, Ilia, Kefallonia and Zante (vol. 8)?, until 2000 excl. Ilia
- Crete
- Epirus
- Mainland Greece (excl. Athens-Piraeus-Eleusis)
- Peloponnese (excl. Achaea and Ilia) (vol. 9), until 1999 or 2000, incl. Ilia
- Thessaly
- Thrace
Area codes can be seen at List of dialing codes in Greece
External links
- OTE Website (http://www.ote.gr)
- OTE Shop (http://www.oteshop.gr)