Ten groups have expressed interest in Competitive Dialogue for the largest public-private partnership (PPP) project in Greece - a EUR 840 million (USD million) Ultra-Fast Broadband project (UFBB), launched by the Ministry of Telecommunications of the Ministry of Digital Governance.

The project involves the development of Ultra-Fast Broadband in the so-called 'white areas' that is, the areas that telecommunications providers have not included in their investment plans. 7 different areas will be created throughout the country and each private partner will be able to claim not more than three areas.

The interested groups include not only the three telecommunications providers (OTE, Vodafone, Wind) which appeared separately but also two energy companies, PPC and ADMIE, as well as four manufacturing groups (TERNA Energy, Mytilos), Intrakat and AVAX.

The private partner will undertake the design, financing, development and management of the fiber-optic networks that will be developed for a specific period of time (at least 20 years). The contractors will undertake the development of broadband networks that will initially offer 100 Mbps connection speeds but which will then be upgraded to 1 Gbps via fiber optic.

The final design of the tender will be done after a competitive dialogue between the Ministry of Digital Governance and the interested groups in order to find the best solutions for the implementation of the project concerned.

The UFBB is the largest PPP project in Greece and is one of the largest of its kind in Europe. It has a budget of EUR 700 million (USD 771 million), with EUR 300 million (USD 330 million) coming from public funding. The UFBB will cover 2.4 million citizens and businesses, and will generate more than 810,000 speeds of at least 100 Mbps, and is included in the European Commission's design for the creation of the "Gigabit Society".

The following 10 companies have expressed their interest in the project:

• Grid Telecom One-Owned Societe Anonyme (a subsidiary of ADMIE)
• Oman Fiber Optic SAOC
• Vodafone Panafon Hellenic Telecommunications Company
• Wind Hellenic Telecommunications Anonymous Company
• Avax SA Constructions Tourist Commercial Industrial Building Materials and Equipment
• Public Power Corporation SA
• Intracom Constructions SA Construction Engineering and Steel Construction
• Mytilineos SA Group of Companies
• Hellenic Telecommunications Organization SA
• Terna Energy SA Commercial Technical Company A. E.