The sale of Nova, a long-awaited deal that could alter the country's telecommunications landscape, was under consideration by United Group throughout the previous period, and due diligence was moving quickly.

According to reports, from an initial pool of eight investors, it appears that four have been shortlisted. These are two American companies and two Arab companies. The best offers are allegedly to have come from:

• The Warburg Pincus fund
• Etisalat
• STC
• Searchlight The partial sale of the United group's activities is also on the table, while the offer for Nova should be close to €1 billion, and for the whole of United's activities €8 billion, a price of more than 8 times their operating profits. Of course, everything is fluid, and nothing can be said with any precision.  

THE Fibre-Optic Target

At the same time, the company has set a target of 1 million fibre-optic connections by 2026, with more than 540,000 connections by the end of the year. In FTTH, the country's coverage is at 40% while penetration is only 10%. This also shows the growth potential of this sector.  

INTENSE INTEREST IN THE INDUSTRY

 As a telecoms industry source told BnB Daily, interest in the Greek telecoms market is intense. This is because the Recovery Fund is creating the necessary conditions for the digital transition of the market, while fibre optics are essentially (along with ITC projects) turning telecom companies into technology providers. It is something that Michael Chamaz had seen at OTE, and his choice was vindicated. That is to say, these are no longer companies that deal only with pay-TV, Internet, fixed and mobile telephony, but also with digitalisation.