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

Greek Greek may refer to: 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 of all kno ...

subsidiary of

Vodafone Group Plc Vodafone Group Public Limited Company () is a British Multinational company, multinational telecommunications company. Its registered office and global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It predominantly operates Service (economic ...

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

Chalandri Chalandri (, Ancient Greek: Φλύα, ''Phlya'', also ''Halandri'', ''Khalandri'') is a town and 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 No ...

- one of the northern suburbs of

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

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/Samsung 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 "we're staying 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 , stylised as france telecom) is a French multinational telecommunications corporation founded in 1988 and headquartered in Issy-les-Moulineaux, near Paris. ''Orange'' has been the corporation's main brand for mobile, ...

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 framework of the changing of his trade name,Panafon. 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 Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...

musician A musician is someone who Composer, composes, Conducting, conducts, or Performing arts#Performers, performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general Terminology, term used to designate a person who fol ...

Sakis Rouvas Anastasios "Sakis" Rouvas (, ; born 5 January 1972), also known :wikt:mononym, mononymously as Sakis, is a Greeks, Greek singer, actor, businessman and former pole vaulter. Born in Corfu, Rouvas won medals with Greece's U18 and U20 national sp ...

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 that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

and

albums An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

. 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 ( novae or novas) is a transient astronomical event that causes the sudden appearance of a bright, apparently "new" star (hence the name "nova", Latin for "new") that slowly fades over weeks or months. All observed novae involve white ...

to offer the

Nova Sports Novasports is a Greek sports pay television network owned by Nova, a subsidiary of Greek telecommunications company of the same name. It is available exclusively on Nova, a DTH satellite service. It is available terrestrially and via satellite o ...

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 TV has also access to

Disney+ The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

Max Max or MAX may refer to: Animals * Max (American dog) (1983–2013), at one time purported to be the world's oldest living dog * Max (British dog), the first pet dog to win the PDSA Order of Merit (animal equivalent of the OBE) * Max (gorilla) ...

, and

Viaplay Viaplay is a Swedish video streaming service owned by Viaplay Group. History Originally owned by Modern Times Group, it was launched in May 2007 as Viasat On Demand. It was rebranded as Viaplay in 2011. Viaplay released its first origina ...

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, this specialised prepaid SIM card, was changed the name in January 2002 from Panafon CU to Vodafone CU, together with the trade name of the telephonic company from Panafon to Vodafone.

Hellas Online & 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 f ...

was a fixed-line and internet service operator founded in 1993. Hellas Online 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, 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 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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