OTE concludes voluntary redundancy scheme

Greek incumbent telco Hellenic Telecommunications Organisation (OTE) issued a statement on 7 January 2013 to announce that it has concluded a Voluntary Exit Scheme for employees, launched in November 2012. 1,516 employees accepted the incentives offered by the company, 40% owned by Germany’s Deutsche Telekom, mainly from a tranche of staff that met the prerequisites for retirement within the period 2013-2015. OTE estimates its net annual cost savings from the downsizing at about EUR80 million (USD104.5 million), while noting that the telco will foot the bill for all costs of the scheme, entailing no additional burden for Greek state pension funds.