Q-Telecom makes debut
The Greek mobile phone market has room for a fourth player, IT company and aspiring telecoms operator Info-Quest said yesterday, while confidently predicting that its new telecommunications venture will generate profits three years after its launch. Info-Quest’s upbeat forecasts of the local mobile market come as the three mobile phone companies reported slowing subscriber growth in the first quarter of the year. Lending support to the company’s optimism, however, a research note from Schroder Salomon Smith Barney the previous day suggested that there is still scope for growth as real mobile penetration amounts to 66 percent, some 10 percent below reported penetration levels. Q-Telecom, the telecommunications venture which was launched yesterday and is currently testing out its services before offering them to the public late next month or early June, is expected to be profitable in 2004, Theodore Fessas, head of Info-Quest, told Kathimerini English Edition. «We expect positive EBITDA and positive cashflow in 2004,» he said. The company should record revenues of 15 million euros this year, rising tenfold to 150 million euros in 2004. Info-Quest acquired fixed-line and second-generation mobile phone licenses two years ago for close to 25 million euros. It plans to invest 100 million euros in the next three years to build up its telecommunications network in Athens and Thessaloniki. The company has a three-year roaming agreement with mobile phone operator Vodafone-Panafon, allowing it to provide national coverage for its clients. Fessas said competitive services and «slightly lower rates» will be key to winning market share, targeted at 5 percent by 2004. Q-Telecom will offer a package of fixed and pre-pay telephone services. Karatzas attributed NBG’s 26-percent fall in pretax profits to 647.5 million euros last year exclusively to the unfavorable climate in the stock market.
