Greece coverage

What the Greece numbers mean

Two numbers matter and only one of them is the one every seller quotes. The typical speed, 69 Mbps, tells you what a good moment looks like.

The tenth percentile, 18 Mbps, is the one that matters. It is the speed in the worst tenth of the day, when the cell above the station is full and everybody around you is on it too. A country with a high median and a low floor is a country that works beautifully right up until the moment you actually need it.

If the trip depends on video calls or tethering, plan around the busy figure rather than the typical one.

What happens in Greece when the network is busy

Congestion is not a fault, it is a Tuesday evening. The question is what your eSIM can do about it, and for most travel eSIMs the answer is nothing: one wholesale agreement per country, one network, and no way out except buying a second eSIM from somebody else while standing in the street.

Here, Orbislo traffic runs over Cosmote and Vodafone. When the network you are on degrades we move you to another one, mid trip, without you asking, and tell you afterwards rather than interrupting you at the time.

Mobile operators in Greece

• OTE (Cosmote, now Telekom): The largest network held 44.4 percent of registered mobile connections at the end of 2024 and 45 to 55 percent of active ones, according to the regulator EETT. COSMOTE was absorbed into its parent OTE in January 2024, which took on all of its legal and contractual obligations.
• OTE (Cosmote, now Telekom): Deutsche Telekom, which owns around 55 percent of OTE, moved the brand to Telekom in September 2026. COSMOTE 5G became Telekom 5G, shops were renamed, and the network name shown on phones changed to TELEKOM.GR, which is what a visitor will now see in the status bar.
• Vodafone: Vodafone Greece held 34.1 percent of registered mobile connections at the end of 2024, up from 32.7 percent a year earlier, and sits second by active connections at 25 to 35 percent, according to the regulator's market review.
• Nova: Nova held 21.5 percent of registered mobile connections at the end of 2024, up from 21 percent a year earlier, and 15 to 25 percent of active connections, according to the regulator's market review.
• Nova: Nova is the former WIND network, and it also serves customers of the F2G and Q brands. Network changes such as the 3G switch-off applied to Nova, F2G and Q customers alike, so those cards share Nova's coverage.
• Market overview: EETT counted 13,924,374 mobile connections across the three network operators in December 2024: 6,379,611 on OTE, 4,223,812 on Vodafone and 3,320,951 on Nova.

Older networks in Greece

• Cosmote announced in April 2021 that it would start closing its 3G network gradually from September 2021, freeing the spectrum for 4G and 5G. Voice calls and SMS were not affected by the switch-off.
• Nova switched off 3G region by region in 2023: Macedonia and Thrace on 14 February, Thessaly and Epirus on 21 February, Central Greece and the Peloponnese on 7 March, and Attica on 13 March. Mobile data now needs a 4G or 5G phone and a USIM card.
• On 24 March 2023 Nova confirmed its 3G network was off across the whole country. Voice and SMS continue over its 2G and 4G networks, which it says cover 100 percent of the territory.
• Vodafone scheduled its 3G shutdown to begin with a pilot in Veria on 1 July 2022. Its 2G network, which carries voice, SMS and data, stays active for the foreseeable future, so phones that support only 2G are not affected.
• In January 2023 Vodafone said its 3G switch-off was under way nationwide and due to finish in the first half of 2023. Internet access now runs only over 4G and 5G, and voice and SMS are unaffected.
• All 900 MHz licences held by OTE, Vodafone and Nova expire on 29 September 2027. In its 2026 consultation on reissuing them, EETT asked operators how many GSM-only connections remain and proposed coverage rules that allow for a possible end of 2G.

5G in Greece

• Greece's 5G auction closed on 16 December 2020 after six bidding rounds, selling the entire available spectrum in the 700 MHz, 2 GHz, 3400 to 3800 MHz and 26 GHz bands to three operators for a combined 372,261,153 euros.
• Cosmote won 15 blocks at 3400 to 3800 MHz for 30,705,000 euros, two 700 MHz blocks for 50,578,000 euros, four 2 GHz blocks for 35,270,000 euros and two 26 GHz blocks for 6,481,000 euros, 123,034,000 euros in total.
• Vodafone paid the most, 130,176,000 euros, for 14 blocks at 3400 to 3800 MHz, two 700 MHz blocks, four 2 GHz blocks and two 26 GHz blocks. WIND, now Nova, paid 119,051,153 euros for 10 mid-band blocks, two 700 MHz, four 2 GHz and one 26 GHz block.
• The 5G licences were signed on 30 December 2020. At the ceremony OTE's chief executive said Cosmote was the first in Greece to sell 5G commercially and was already doing so in Athens, Thessaloniki and other cities.
• In the 3400 to 3800 MHz band OTE holds 150 MHz, Vodafone 140 MHz and Nova 100 MHz, with part of the OTE and Vodafone holdings valid only in specific regions. Each operator has 2x10 MHz at 700 MHz, licensed until November 2036.
• EETT measured total 5G coverage in Greece at 99.8 percent in June 2024, above the EU average of 94.3 percent. Coverage from the faster 3.4 to 3.8 GHz band reached 72.9 percent of households.
• OTE reported in February 2026 that it was the only operator in Greece offering a commercially available 5G standalone network, which then reached nearly 78 percent of residents, while its 5G overall covered more than 99 percent.
• By June 2026 OTE's standalone 5G network had grown to about 84 percent of the population, and 49 percent of its active customers were using a 5G capable phone.
• Vodafone's 5G reached 95 percent of the population in January 2026, spread across 249 towns and cities and 71 islands, and nearly half of Greece's airports.
• Nova reported in June 2025 that its 4G reached 99 percent of the population and its 5G 90 percent, after five years of spending on its mobile network and new spectrum.

Network notes for Greece

• EETT's tables still list CYTA as a fourth mobile operator, but its share of connections has been zero since December 2019, and the regulator counted three operators providing mobile services in 2024.
• EETT lists 29 municipalities with both weak wireless coverage and little fibre, including Santorini (Thira), Kefalonia, Ikaria, Naxos, Amorgos, Aegina, Skyros, Kalambaka near Meteora, Ancient Olympia, East Mani and Lake Plastiras. Expect weaker signal there than national coverage figures suggest.
• For the 900 MHz licences due in 2027, EETT has proposed requiring 100 Mbps coverage of 97 percent of national roads, 99 percent of the Egnatia, Ionia, Olympia, Attiki and Athens to Thessaloniki motorways, and 99.5 percent of the Athens to Patras and Athens to Thessaloniki railways.
• Vodafone reported in January 2026 that its network now covers 65 percent of the ships serving the Greek islands, and that it had added 21 base stations to cover tunnels on western Egnatia Odos.
• Athens Metro stations and tunnels have full 5G coverage from Vodafone, and a 5G upgrade of the Piraeus to Kifissia electric railway, Line 1, was in progress in early 2026.
• The 2Africa submarine cable came ashore at Vodafone's cable station in Tympaki, Crete, in February 2025. Vodafone also uses fibres in the undersea network linking Attica with the Aegean islands and Crete as a virtual seismograph array around Santorini.
• The 900 and 1800 MHz rights auctioned in 2011 run for 15 years and came with obligations for national roaming, site sharing and access for virtual operators, which EETT imposed to strengthen competition.