How it started
History
OTE was founded on 23 October 1949 as a successor to the Hellenic Telephone Company (AETE), which was established in 1926 to consolidate all such public and private telecommunications companies. Formerly, telephony, telegraph, domestic and international connections were fragmented and under-coordinated.
Until 1998, OTE operated as a state-owned monopoly. The market was opened to competitors and OTE was gradually privatized. Along with other telecommunications market providers, OTE is regulated by the National Telecommunications and Post Commission (EETT).
In 2007, MIG Holdings acquired 20% of the company, while in March 2008, sold it to German Deutsche Telekom, which later increased its stake to 25% plus one, matching that of the state.
Following the sale of a further 5% in 2009 and another 10% in 2011 of OTE's share capital by the Greek state to Deutsche Telekom, the state holds 10% and DT 40%. In 2018, Deutsche Telekom acquired an additional 5% of OTE as it exercised the right of first refusal to acquire 24,507,520 ordinary shares as announced by HDRAF.
From Wikipedia’s article on Telekom (Greece), shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.2