Forthnet lands EETT contract

Athens-listed telecom Forthnet yesterday won the tender of the Hellenic Telecommunications and Post Commission (EETT) to be Greece’s universal service provider, for a maximum amount of 4.93 million euros per year payable by the state. This means that the company is undertaking to supply fixed telephony local network access and voice call services in 100 percent of the country. It will do so via satellite broadband. Rivals OTE (landline) and Cosmote (mobile network) withdrew from the process. Forthnet, whose new convertible bond will be traded from today until October 3, will now have to declare whether it will undertake the contract for three or for five years, and whether it wishes to wait until January 1, 2017 or start supplying the service earlier. move reflected improving liquidity conditions in Greek banks and the stabilization of private sector deposit flows, it said. The ELA ceiling is valid up to October 4. Greek banks have relied on emergency liquidity assistance since February 2015 after being cut off from the ECB’s funding window. Emergency funding is more costly than borrowing directly from the ECB. In June the ECB reinstated Greek banks’ access to its cheap funding operations, allowing lenders to reduce their dependence on the emergency liquidity lifeline. tional markets yesterday after Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said Greece could be included in the European Central Bank’s asset purchase program within the next six months. Two-year bond yields in Greece fell further to 6.02 percent, their lowest level since late 2015. Other eurozone bond yields were down 5-7 basis points, with yields in most parts of the bloc tumbling to two-week lows.