Vodafone Greece will begin selling 5G services soon after the completion of the country's 5G spectrum auction, CEO Haris Broumidis told local publication Capital.gr. He added that the company invested in its network in time to be ready to proceed with the development of 5G, but also to support the knowledge economy, developing networks that will bring new opportunities to citizens and businesses.
The auction is expected in December and the commercial availability of Vodafone's new services is estimated in the first quarter of 2021, at the beginning of the quarter most likely. Initially, the service will be available in Athens and Thessaloniki, and there will be no price differentiation for the new services, the CEO said.
The Vodafone Group announced last February its decision to remove Huawei equipment from the core network in Europe. Although Vodafone doesn't disclose the exact composition of its networks nationwide, Vodafone Greece uses a wide range of suppliers, including Huawei, and continues to look at how it operates, subject to modified US restrictions, but also to constantly comply with the legal framework, the operator said.
Opportunity for Greece
Referring to the EU Recovery Fund, the company's CEO noted that the fact that at least 5 of the 7 priorities set by the European Commission for the financing of projects from the Recovery Fund concern digital technologies is in the right direction. Also, the other two priorities around energy and the environment presuppose the use of new "smart" technologies. He added that the resources from the Fund are a "golden" opportunity for Greece to make a leap towards tomorrow, to fill the competitiveness gaps and to balance the financial losses caused by the pandemic. Three pillars, he noted, are particularly important in this effort: accelerating the growth of 5G and in remote areas, digitising small and medium-sized enterprises and the state.
