08 Apr Interview with Kostiantyn Dolzhenko, CEO, Inalan, Greece
According to the European Commission’s annual report, Greece has made significant progress in improving its telecommunications sector, notably in its Very High-Capacity Networks and 5G coverage. In April, EETT announced that investments of around 1 billion euros per year over the next five years had already been planned to boost local telecommunications infrastructure. To start, how would you assess the strengths of Greece’s telecommunications sector compared to its EU counterparts? Where does it stand out?
Inalan entered the Greek market in 2014 as a small project. At that time, we were the first on the market to focus on implementing the FTTH network standards and to provide this network, not to the business sector but to private customers. Two years ago, we signed an investment contract with our partners and now the project is going well and growing fast.
Our project is something new and unique for the Greek market, our services enabling high-speed symmetric broadband connectivity. We are growing our network, which is the second one in Greece, and this network is totally different from the existing ones. The idea is to build a new generation wholesale and retail platform, which will be innovative for the EU as well.
What role do you see optic fiber projects currently play within the country’s telecommunications sector, and what competitive advantages do they offer?
First, FTTH offers high-speed online service. It provides connectivity not only for high-cost business customers, but also for people in the private sector so that they have almost the same high-quality service. The Covid-19 years taught us that life can be unpredictable, and at that time many people were forced to work from home. That’s why they should have been provided with high-quality services.
Inalan established in Athens in 2014. You’ve smartly focused the company on growing in the fiber-to-the-home segment and have seen huge successes, particularly through large milestone investments from Canadian investor Fiera Infrastructure. How have new investments from Fiera Infrastructure helped to position the company as a lead independent player in the local fiber optics market?
From the beginning, we have been using only our own infrastructure and build our own network from scratch. Starting from zero is one way to be as independent as possible, to provide services to the customer without any pain points. Indeed, if you use another network, you can’t control or upgrade their service without relying on them. That was the reason why, initially, we invested a little more in the core network, and only after four years did we begin investing in the last mile. Our cooperation with Fiera Infrastructure gives us the opportunity to build as much as we can, and the focus for now is the last mile of the two biggest cities, Athens and Thessaloniki. Of course, we are thinking about expanding these networks to other cities.
What kind of new services has Inalan recently introduced into its offerings and what efforts is the company making to enhance its marketing strategies?
Our strategy is very simple: to be a platform with lots of things to offer. We provide access to any kind of service for our customers, and our focus is connectivity. The main difference from other companies is that we offer symmetrical internet access, so people can have the same high level of speed for uploading and downloading. All companies that provide this service only do so at the B2B level.
What next steps are required for Inalan to meet its ambitions to link its network to more than 1.6 million homes in Athens and Thessaloniki?
We must simply keep at it. The greatest obstacle today is the scarcity of engineers. It’s a big problem as many experienced people have left Greece and now our challenge is to find them and to teach them our experience, our own way of engineering. This is a slow process.
Greece has been suffering a big brain drain during the crisis decade. What kind of strategies are you deploying at Inalan to recruit and retain talent?
I had a chance to be involved in the Ukrainian telco project, which is now the second largest company in the market. The customer base of the project before the Russian invasion was more than half a million customers. I had a team that was partly moved to Greece a few years ago, and this team has been developing local talent for this project here. We are good at that. Involving new people from abroad isn’t necessary because things are going well locally.
The government is currently working under its Digital Transformation Strategy 2020 to 2025. However, Greece continues to lag in the EU, sitting at 25th of 27 nations in the EU’s Digital Economy and Society Index 2022. How would you assess the level of digitization in Greece compared to other European markets, and what role is the telecommunications sector currently playing in meeting the government’s digital goals?
The level of digitalization in Greece is high right now. I can compare it only with my experience based on Ukraine and the UK digital services. The level of service reachable through the digital platform is extremely high. If the government maintains this level, it will be very helpful.
What new digital technologies has Inalan introduced into its internal operations, such as big data and AI? What impact have these disruptive technologies had on the company’s efficiencies?
Currently, we are not aiming to introduce any new technology except high-speed connectivity. We want to be prepared to service these new technologies, such as big data. If the number of users using technology like big data or AI increases, then we must grow on our side to provide a proper level of connectivity. We have launched 10G connectivity in Greece.
When I met with Masselos, President of the Hellenic Telecommunications and Post Commission (EETT), he told me that one of his future ambitions now was to open the discussion about the sustainability issues of the telecom sector. How is Inalan working in this area? What is Inalan doing to decrease carbon emissions from its operations and utilize more green technologies in its network?
The first step we took was to sign an agreement with our power suppliers to receive renewable energy to support this cause. Now we can say we are a zero emissions company, operation-wise. To decrease carbon emissions in this country, we need to implement other measures, such as the use of electric cars.
What more could the Greek ICT sector do to further cut down the country’s carbon footprint?
During the summer, Greece is trying to be 100% powered by renewable energy consumption. In our case, the technology itself is green technology because it only uses light, so we have zero emissions. We are trying to meet all the ESG requirements. It’s not just a question of renewable energy sources because the power system is a complicated mechanism, which should be stable at any time of the day, and renewable energy is not a stable source. We can have pleasant conditions with the sun and the wind, but we need to keep the system in a stable state. In this case, we should have a Plan B or backstage sources for this system, which may be nuclear or hydrogen sources.
S&P and other rating agencies have raised Greece’s investment grade this year due to the latest reforms and political stability. The USA has traditionally been the country’s eighth largest source of FDI, with major players such as Google, J.P. Morgan, Meta, Microsoft, and Pfizer all participating in the market. As you mentioned, the presence of a Canadian player in the market as well. In your opinion, how open is Greece’s telecommunications sector to foreign direct investment, such as your deal with Fiera Infrastructure? What opportunities exist for further collaboration with Greece?
I don´t believe the Greek market has any obstacles for foreign investment, as most of the telecom companies are internationally owned companies. If someone wants to invite or bring any capital to Greece, I don’t see any roadblocks from the government’s side.
You’ve successfully led Inalan from being a small player in the Greek telecom market to being a strong and competitive entity despite major macroeconomic factors such as the pandemic and rising inflation. You mentioned in a past interview that you planned to help customers “join the new era of telecommunications” and “experience a new level of service.” How would you define your vision for Inalan or for the telecom sector? Where would you like to take the company to in the next five years?
We are building a new generation of networks, and our network can already be used by existing technology companies. It’s a 1G service for customers, which can be easily upgraded to 10G without reconstruction. Technically, we are prepared for the next steps. We have not only tested but also provided 1G and 10G services. Other players have a different strategy, mostly interested in wholesale distribution, but the Greek market is growing in a very interesting way. We currently see competition between at least three companies in this sector that want to provide these wholesale services. The question is, who will be able to provide retail in the market? Our aim is to be the company that provides retail services to the customers and perhaps helps other small ISPs to grow in this market. Currently, it’s a strategic idea because it is easy to just build networks, but who will make our customers happy?
What would your final message to the readers of USA today?
Greece is becoming a very interesting place for telecommunications. Many cables between Europe and the Middle East are being laid, and it is a great opportunity for Greece. The government shouldn’t miss this opportunity, as there are now many investors who want to expand the services in Greece. If the Greek government continues to be friendly towards these investments, I think there is a bright future ahead of us.