United Group’s Greek operation Forthnet is to be rebranded Nova, the name it already uses for its consumer brand.
Commenting on the development, United Group’s CEO Victoriya Boklag said: “This is the beginning of a dynamic new era for Nova. We are building on the innovative heritage of the company and transforming Nova into a strong contender in the Greek telecom and media market – applying all of our considerable experience, expertise, and scale to do so”.
Nova has historically been the biggest investor in pay-TV content in Greece with an annual expenditure of roughly €100 million. With the regional scale of United Group, the entertainment and sports offering of Nova will now be even stronger. Along with the Greek Football Championship, EuroLeague and other sports traditionally broadcast on Nova, from next season Greek fans will enjoy new additions to such as UEFA qualifiers, Bundesliga, and LaLiga, as well as Wimbledon, the Davis Cup, and the ATP Cup. Nova will also offer several other competitions including FIBA basketball competitions, Football Coppa Italia, the Dutch and Belgian leagues.
According to Nova CEO Panayotis Georgiopoulos, investments are also being made to build new infrastructure, implement new technologies and IT systems, develop new products, reshape the Nova brand, and transform customer touchpoints.
As part of Phase 1 of its plan United Group is investing an additional €50 million in the company through the end of the year. This comes on top of €150 million spent on the acquisition and restructuring of the business over the past six months. Phase 2 of United Group’s plan for Nova with a five-year horizon is now under development.
Georgiopoulos emphasised that an important goal for the company is to secure access to open NGA networks and – wherever possible – to build its own infrastructure to ensure that Nova can offer f fast internet, new technologies, leading content, and the best user experience to Greek businesses and consumers.
He added: “We are hard at work now developing great new products and services for customers. Greek consumers can expect new products to be introduced already after the summer. Over the next few months you will see significant changes being made and new offerings.
“There’s so much more to come. It’s a thrilling time to be part of the company”.
Boklag added: “We believe our entry into the Greek market will stimulate competition and innovation, to the benefit of Greek consumers”.
