Greece is the European champion in accurate charges in telecommunications
Out of 12 mobile packages examined by the Commission, in 10 our country is considered “relatively more accurate” or “more expensive”. Only 3% of consumers have access to fast landlines, compared to 34% in Europe.
Despite his efforts Ministry of Digital Government and the development of a range of new electronic services, h Hellas is in its last three positions Join and in this year’s index Digital Economy and Society (DESI) referring to Friday the Commission.
Extremely unfavorable for our country is the comparison of prices in broadband services in fixed and mobile telephony, based on data at the end 2020, as it appears from the exact in the EU. in a number of packages and combined services. In mobile telephony, in 12 connection packages examined, at 10 our country is considered “relatively more expensive” or “more expensive”. However Cyprus, Czech Republic, Lithuania and Malta are even more accurate than our country, in mobile telephony packages.
Extremely problematic is the desperately low penetration of fixed speed broadband communications at least 100 Mbps. In Greece they only have access to these high speed connections three percent, while the EU average is more than tenfold, as more than one in three have access.
One of the most important reasons for the ranking of our country in 26th place of the DESI index, in front of only Romania and Bulgaria, are the delays in the investments of the telecommunication providers, but also the delayed state intervention, for the development of the high-speed broadband networks.
Her conclusions THE based on its data September 2020, ie a year ago, resulting in Hellas not to take advantage of the fact that in the last 12 months a number of new electronic services were launched, while its investment program was accelerated OTE -and secondarily its competitors- for the installation of fiber optic networks up to the house (FTTH).
The main conclusions of the report
In her report Commission it is pointed out, however, that “the Hellas continues to improve its performance in almost all its parameters DESI index, although in most cases its score is not below the EU average “. It is reported that our country may have scored “Little progress on digital skills” but “The percentage of employed women ICT specialists (s.s. in Information and Communication Technologies) on all the special IPs employed in Greece so rapidly “.
In addition, “Greece has improved its connectivity performance and started developing very high capacity networks, although it has always been well below the EU average to cover very high capacity networks and to penetrate fixed broadband communications at speeds of at least 100 Mbps».
in Commission consider that “The development of future-resistant networks is likely to accelerate with the expected investment in fiber optics (such as the project “Ultra-Broadband Infrastructure: Ultra-Fast Broadband”) and the development of the 5G network “. Greece gathers 99% in the readiness index 5G, which means that almost all the innovative zones of the EU-harmonized spectrum have been assigned 5G.
With an account 37.7 (compared to the EU average of 50.2), Greece is ranked in 27th position in the EU in connectivity. It is pointed out that “It continues to make rapid progress in high-speed broadband (NGA) coverage. This coverage increased in 2020 by 6 percentage points to 87%, which is in line with the EU condition. This increase could be attributed to the gradual development of networks through the vectoring plan. “.
The report emphasizes that “The country has also finally started to develop very high capacity networks (VHCN). The coverage of fixed networks VHCN reached it 10% from 7% last year, although this percentage is not well below average 59% in EU. However, the penetration of fixed speed broadband communications at least 100 Mbps remains very low (reaching 3% from 1% in 2019) compared to the EU average (34%). Overall penetration of fixed broadband communications is still not slow, reaching 77% the 2020 from 76% the 2019 (keeping pace with the EU average). THE Hellas has made progress in the broadband price index, with a score 53 the 2020 compared to 49 in 2019. Mobile broadband penetration (60% in 2019) remains below the EU average (71% in 2019). Greece’s performance in 4G technology is better, with coverage 99.2%».
Regarding the integration of digital technologies in business activities, the Hellas is located well below the EU average. In terms of the digitization of public services, the performance of Greece in 2020 exceed the EU average in the number of users of e-government services, and far exceed the EU average in terms of open data readiness, as the country has already implemented relevant legislation and policies.
In its parameter human capital, the Hellas classified 21st between 27 EU countries, remaining below its average EU. The percentage of people who have at least basic digital skills is low (51%). The percentage of employed ICT specialists (2.1% in 2019) remains low 2020 (2%) compared to its average EU (4.3%).
However, among the country’s ICT specialists, the percentage of women specialists ICT shows a rapid increase (from 20% in 2019 to 27% in 2020) and is well above its average EU (19%), making Greece a leader in this field. Only 12% of the products provided ICT training to their staff 2020, compared to the EU average of 20%.