ECONOMY

In Brief

OTE proposes overhaul of Telekom Srbija OTE Telecom has submitted a proposal to overhaul Serbia-Montenegro’s fixed-line telephone company, Telekom Srbija, George Skarpelis, OTE’s vice president, told Dow Jones Newswires yesterday. «OTE has submitted a comprehensive and complete proposal for the future development of the company so it can emerge from its current stagnation,» he said. OTE remains the only foreign shareholder in the country’s telephone company, with a 20 percent stake after Italy’s telephone company sold its 29 percent share back to the government in 2002. The new plan includes a proposal for the development of mobile services in Serbia-Montenegro, Skarpelis said. (AP) Information technology events get under way in Thessaloniki Thessaloniki’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry is holding a briefing event for firms on the Development Ministry’s program of EU subsidies for investment in information technology «Epicheireite Electronika» (Electronic Enterpreneurship) at 10 a.m. on Friday, at 29 Tsimiski Street. Subsidies may amount to up to 100,000 euros for firms in the sectors of manufacturing, tourism, commerce and services that employ between five and 200 people and whose sales amounted to between 200,000 and 30 million euros in the last fiscal year. For more information, tel 2310.370.132, or visit www.e-pixeireite.gr. Separately, this year’s 17th Infosystem exhibition opens in the Helexpo grounds tomorrow, hosting 131 Greek and 316 foreign exhibitors from 15 countries. An IT applications conference will be held at the Ioannis Vellidis Conference Center from tomorrow to Saturday with 30 contributors on the general topic «The Citizen at the Center of the Digital Age.» Local IT businessmen said Infosystem is failing to attract innovative enterprises. Vodafone IT and office equipment retailer Plaisio Computers has agreed to distribute services and products of mobile phone operator Vodafone-Panafon. “The new commercial agreement, besides the expansion of its sales network, will significantly enhance the company’s sales to businesses, a sector in which Plaisio has performed particularly well in recent years,» said Vodafone in a statement. Fuel The Federation of Gas Station Owners said the reductions in special consumption taxes on fuel for manufacturers and farmers to 120 and 21 euros respectively, announced Monday, will favor further growth in the extensive smuggling and illegal fuel trade. It said the winter tax reduction on heating fuel, effective October 16, still leaves it about 30 percent more expensive compared to last year, at 0.36-0.40 euros a liter. Fines The Competition Commission has fined Sony Hellas 200,000 euros for abuse of dominant market position. The company was found to have refused to supply technical means to non-authorized dealers. A few days ago, the Commission fined the Carrefour-Marinopoulos retail chain 8,804 euros for failing to provide data regarding concentration in the sector. Romania Construction group Pantechniki is to invest 120 million euros in an office and shopping complex in Bucharest.

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