FreeMove Alliance Expands Into South East Europe
With COSMOTE Greece And GLOBUL
10. August 2011 – FreeMove, the mobile telecommunications alliance between Deutsche Telekom Group, France Telecom Orange Group, TeliaSonera and Telecom Italia, today announces that mobile telecommunications services providers COSMOTE (Greece) and GLOBUL (Bulgaria), members of the COSMOTE Group, have joined the FreeMove Alliance as partners.
With over 2.1 million corporate mobile connections and 57% MNC market share managed within FreeMove’s footprint already, the addition of COSMOTE and GLOBUL further strengthens the alliance’s global footprint and offers its customers a strong presence in the growing South East European markets. COSMOTE currently has 7.6 million customers in Greece, and is the market leader in terms of both subscribers and profitability, while GLOBUL is the second mobile operator in Bulgaria with a growing subscriber base of 3.9 million, posting significant growth in the post-paid and corporate customers’ segment.
Under the agreement, COSMOTE and GLOBUL will offer FreeMove’s advanced mobility solutions to their wide client base, thus providing their customers with new benefits, improved service level and improved network quality, as well as giving them a competitive advantage by delivering greater value, increased control and simplicity.
Grigoris Christopoulos, Executive Sales Director, at COSMOTE, commented: “Our partnership with FreeMove provides us with the tools to present our multinational customers with an extended offering. Customer benefits such as increased efficiency, simplicity and transparency across mobile operations, means we can enhance our service significantly.”
Nikos Choumis, Chief Commercial Officer at GLOBUL, commented: “We are happy to become a partner of the FreeMove Alliance as it will enable us to better support our growing number of customers around the globe. It can strengthen our position in the Bulgarian market as an ideal business partner for multinationals.
Fabien Gustafsson, General Manager at FreeMove, commented: “By partnering with COSMOTE Greece and GLOBUL, the FreeMove Alliance is responding directly to our customers’ needs to have far-reaching and seamless mobile communications support that match their own footprint. We are delighted that GLOBUL and COSMOTE Greece have joined our alliance thereby strengthening our foothold in Europe.”
About FreeMove
FreeMove is a mobile telecommunications alliance between Deutsche Telekom Group, France Telecom Orange Group, TeliaSonera and Telecom Italia. It was founded in 2003 and is committed to providing customers with seamless access to mobility services without complexity, particularly in the multinational market. FreeMove currently spans 38 countries across Europe, the USA, Russia and Brazil. Further information about the FreeMove alliance can be found on its website, www.freemovealliance.com
About COSMOTE
COSMOTE Mobile Telecommunications S.A., member of OTE Group is leading mobile operator in Greece as well as the operator with the strongest presence in SE Europe, with 20 million customers in an extended market of 45 million people in four countries: Greece, Albania, Bulgaria and Romania through COSMOTE (Greece) AMC, GLOBUL and COSMOTE Romania.
In Greece the company currently has 7.6 million customers and a market share of approximately 48%. In 2010, the company posted revenues of 1,812.1 million Euro, while its EBITDA profitability reached 667.6 million. COSMOTE is the leader in mobile broadband customers and the main beneficiary of portability services with 47% market share of ported-in customers in 2010.
About GLOBUL
GLOBUL is the trademark under which Cosmo Bulgaria Mobile EAD offers mobile telecommunications services in Bulgaria. The company is 100% owned by COSMOTE (member of OTE Group), the operator with the strongest presence in Southeast Europe. As of the end of 2010, GLOBUL has 3.9 million subscribers, while its services are available to 99.98% of Bulgaria’s population, covering over 99.23% of the country’s territory. GLOBUL UMTS network covers 88.96% of the population. GLOBUL along with GERMANOS retail network employ more than 2,300 people in the country.
For more information, visit www.cosmote.gr.
For further information, please contact:
Anna Richardson
Burson-Marsteller
+44 (0)207 300 6159
Sofia Marinou
COSMOTE
+30 210 617 7586
Petya Popova
GLOBUL
(+359 2) 415 8190
