ECONOMY

Cellphone networks are in trouble

Cellphone networks are in trouble

Greece’s mobile phone services sector is trying to assess the impact of a decision by the telecommunications regulator to summon the three networks (Cosmote, Vodafone and Wind) to more than 800 hearings for as many violations regarding the operation of their antennas.

Besides the excessive bureaucracy it generates, the decision by the National Commission for Telecommunications and Post (EETT) threatens the companies with losses of between 40 and 50 million euros in total. Worse, if the antennas in question have to come down it will create serious network problems.

The summons were issued on Monday and concern equipment that operated under “declaration status” – with the operators having submitted all the necessary documents but still awaiting the licensing approvals from the state.

The declaration status period expired on December 31, 2017, and the Digital Policy Ministry issued an extension till May 2018. Since then the operation of all those antennas has been without legal backing.

Notably, the development of the new generation of cellphone networks will require more than the 12,000 antennas the networks use today.

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