ATHENS : OTE Group, Greece's biggest telecoms operator, increased its payout to shareholders this year and said it would continue investing in fast fibre broadband connections to homes and in 5G service to deal with intense competition.
OTE, majority owned and managed by Deutsche Telekom, will pay a dividend of 0.5765 euros per share, up 3.3 per cent on a year earlier. Total return to shareholders, including a share buyback scheme, will come in at 425 million euros, it said. Under a revised policy beginning in 2023, OTE planned to distribute to its shareholders between 70 per cent and 100 per cent of free cash flow every year, providing macroeconomic conditions remained stable, it said.The operator will spend about 640 million euros in 2023, the same as last year, to expand its fibre optic and 5G networks and to further digitise its services, consolidating its leadership in the market, it said.