On the table are increases in internet, landline and mobile bills

Yesterday, Vodafone Group President Haris Promidis sounded particularly pessimistic about operating costs in telecom. As mentioned, energy costs and inflationary pressures cost Vodafone Greece more than 60 million euros in 2022 and the existing pressures are particularly high.

Referring to energy costs, he stressed that telecommunications companies are particularly energy intensive, with each company in the sector “burning” as much electricity as a medium-sized city in the country. Indeed, as data use by consumers increases, so does the energy demand, despite whatever steps have been taken to improve consumption and increase the use of more environmentally friendly technologies.

“The operating costs of telecom operators, which are by their very nature energy-intensive, are very high. The whole network consumes energy, so there is a very high cost. At the same time, we have already seen strong inflationary pressures across all the materials we use.

For example, in just fiber optics, the cost has increased in some areas by 80% and certainly there is also the labor cost as in an environment of 10% inflation, wage increases of 11% or 9% should be made especially for the lowest wage earners. That they can meet our people’s high cost of living.”

“I don’t want to say there should be increases (in fees),” he said characteristically, but described the costs to Vodafone, as well as other telecom companies, as unbearable. However, speaking to reporters, he noted that if there were no fee increases, companies would either scale back their investment programs or be forced to lay off employees, or both.