United Group executives presented to the Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis the group’s plan to materialize investments worth 2 billion euros in Greece by 2027, in order to upgrade new technology telecommunications infrastructure, during a meeting that was held at Maximos Mansion this morning.
“I think your decision is testimony to the confidence that local but also international investors have in the potential of Greece and of course – I think – the excellent work that has been done from the Ministry of Digital Transformation as well as the funds available from the RRF are supporting these types of investments,” said the Prime Minister at the beginning of the meeting, while he also stressed: “You know that 2022 is going to be a record year in terms of attracting foreign investment into the country”.
United Group’s investment plan envisages the installment of a 10 Gigabit Fiber Νetwork that will cover the needs of 4,5 million individuals and businesses.
“For us, the digital transformation of the Greek economy and society is a bet and we intend not only to win this bet but also give the opportunity to Greece to make a real leap,” stressed the Prime Minister. “I think that Greek citizens already acknowledge that the things we have done in the field of digital services are really important. At the same time, we have an extremely ambitious plan, which is partly financed by the Recovery Fund along with the leverage of private funds: The plan is to be able to upgrade our digital infrastructure in total”.
“Let me express, once again, my satisfaction for this very important investment that you are announcing today, through NOVA, for the digital upgrade of the country,” said the Prime Minister. “It will allow us to bridge the gap that we have pointed out for quite some time. It will offer fast broadband at affordable prices to millions of Greek households and of course it will strengthen even more competition in the market, which is something that we welcome in principle”, he added.
“With the investment that you are announcing today as a continuation of the important work that has already been done in the company, you offer us the confidence and certainty that this plan, this vision that we have, we share it with important investment funds that also want to participate in the added value that is created overall in the country”, added Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
“The truth is that today we are making a very important investment, 2 billion euros, in the development of optical fibers, which – we think – will greatly promote the prospects of the country, but also it will promote even more – I would say – the economic and social prosperity of our country”, said Nikos Stathopoulos, Chairman of Europe at BC Partners.
“Since the first day that we came to Greece we declared that our investment is not only for here and for now. But we are looking for a relationship that will take us long into the future”, pointed out the CEO of United Group, Victoriya Boklag. “Now we are happy to make the announcement that we will be investing further €2 billion in the course of five years. And a large part of this investment will be directed towards the build-out of state-of-the-art fiber infrastructure of Nova”.
“For us, this investment is a vote of confidence in Greece and it is also a vote of confidence in its technological capabilities,” noted the Minister of State and Digital Governance Kyriakos Pierrakakis. “To put it schematically, we are approximately in the 25th place in the world in mobile networks, but approximately in the 92nd place in landline networks. That’s exactly why your investment is coming in today to cover a large part of the lag, and it’s extremely important that we will be able to make this transition. It is another stepping stone towards the digitization of the state and the economy and it is also another part of the strategy that the Prime Minister has drawn”, continued Kyriakos Pierrakakis.
The meeting was attended, on behalf of the government, by the Deputy Minister to the Prime Minister, Ioannis Bratakos, and the Head of the Prime Minister’s Economic Office, Alexis Patelis. Nova was represented by CEO Panayotis Georgiopoulos.
