RomTelecom Dolce DTH subscriber base nears 750,000

ATHENS, Greece — Hellenic Telecommunications Organization SA (OTE Group) [ASE: HTO, NYSE: OTE], the Greek full-service telecommunications provider, today announced unaudited consolidated results (prepared under IFRS) for the quarter ended March 31, 2009.

Greek Fixed-Line Operations

In February, OTE carried out the commercial launch of its IPTV offering. Currently offered in five metropolitan areas, the initial uptake is deemed successful. OTE has started an extensive brand awareness campaign for Conn-x TV, while continuously enhancing content and video on-demand services offered.

Romanian Fixed-Line Operations

OTE, through its wholly owned subsidiary OTE International Investments Ltd, holds a 54.01% interest in RomTelecom S.A., the incumbent telecommunications operator in Romania.

RomTelecom’s strategic goal is to overcome the traditional telephony revenue decline by increasing its market share in the new growth areas of broadband and satellite TV. Its aim is to increase the number of revenue-generating units (defined as PSTN, ADSL and TV subscriptions), thus mitigating the effects of the decrease in traditional-voice only-customers. This strategy has proved successful, as RomTelecom increased by 10% its total revenue-generating units compared to last year’s quarter (4,358,817 RGUs in Q1’09 vs. 3,954,289 RGUs in Q1’08).

As a result of these efforts, net line churn for Q1’09 was contained to only 1.5%. With an increase of more than 56% in ADSL customers compared to the end of Q1’08, penetration reached 24% of all PSTN subscribers and revenues were up 46% from the year earlier level. Similarly, the number of direct-to-home TV (Dolce) subscribers rose 50% to nearly 750,000, representing PSTN penetration of 25% and generating a 67% increase in revenues.

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