In Brief
Measures to boost Santorini tourism Tourism Development Minister Fanni Palli-Petralia decided to strengthen the promotion of Santorini to eradicate any unlikely negative effect from the sinking of the Sea Diamond cruise liner. She told local officials that the ministry will allocate 100,000 euros toward the Aegean island’s promotion, while the Greek National Tourism Organization will undertake all expenses for Santorini’s participation in tourism shows. Palli-Petralia also said that she will send personal letters to all accident survivors, inviting them to spend free holidays in Greece. Tellas launches package for small- and mid-sized firms Alternative telecoms provider Tellas yesterday announced the launch of a new version of its Zisto package of services, especially designed for small- and mid-sized businesses. The package, which costs 54.90 euros a month, including VAT, offers basic ISDN BRI connection, broadband DSL connection (4 Mbps/1 Mbps with unlimited e-mail accounts) and remote access to the company server. It also includes seven free hours of city calls, one hour of free long-distance calls and one hour of free calls to mobile phones. Turkey 3G tender Turkey’s Telecommunications Board launched a tender for four third-generation (3G) telephone licenses yesterday, setting a May 24 deadline for bids in a statement on its website. The government has set minimum prices ranging from 140 million euros to 252 million euros ($189 to $340 million) for each of the tenders, which will allow operators to offer more advanced services such as video telephony. Initial offers for the tender – the first time 3G licenses have been auctioned in Turkey – will be submitted in sealed bids, to be followed by verbal bidding. The mobile market in fast-growing Turkey is led by Turkcell, which competes with Britain’s Vodafone, and unlisted operator Avea. (Reuters) Sabanci, Koc profits down Leading Turkish conglomerate Sabanci Holding’s net profits dropped 28.4 percent last year to 494 million lira ($363 million), data on the Istanbul Stock Exchange website showed yesterday. The company announced on Friday that 2006 pretax profit stood at 1.101 billion lira, compared with 1.411 billion lira a year earlier. Sales rose 20 percent last year to 16.9 billion lira. Separately, Koc Holding’s net profits fell 6.2 percent to 560.81 million lira ($412 million) last year. Net sales rose 102.8 percent last year to 49.389 billion lira, the data showed, reflecting in part the acquisition of former state oil refiner Tupras. (Reuters) Business experience May 14 is the deadline for applications to the Pre-MBA Apprenticeship Program of ALBA Graduate Business School, which offers graduates valuable professional experience for up to one year before proceeding to MBA studies. Companies involved include Kraft Foods Hellas, Nestle Hellas, Microsoft Hellas, Johnson & Johnson Hellas, Kantor, Carrefour Marinopoulos, Piraeus Bank, Novo Nordisk, OgilvyOne Worldwide Athens and Cadbury Hellas.
