Greece reviews national FTTH project

Greece’s new government is reviewing the previous administration’s plan for a nationwide fibre-optic broadband network in order to make the project more attractive to private investors. ‘The targets remain the same, everything else is under review,’ Socrates Katsikas, General Secretary for Communications at Greece’s infrastructure ministry, told Greek press at the end of 2009. The fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) programme, with an indicative budget of EUR2 billion (USD2.9 billion), is aimed at expanding direct fibre to two million Greek homes, providing internet speeds of at least 100Mbps. A ministry committee will pick an advisor by the end of March 2010 to assess the project’s technical feasibility and financial viability. The government plans to invite bids to build the network by May 2011, and pick the tender’s winners by July 2011. ‘It is an ambitious target, but if all goes well, the first homes should receive FTTH by the end of 2011,’ Katsikas said. The country currently has just a few scattered municipal fibre networks, with no cable TV broadband networks.