Q-Telecom

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Q-Telecom was Greece’s fourth mobile operator, starting in June 2002 in Athens. In 2008 it rebranded as Q and called its services MyQ. The company offered GSM mobile service and also fixed-line telephony and Internet, aiming to be a complete private Greek telecom provider. It focused on big cities and built a second‑generation mobile network and a fixed wireless broadband network using the 3.5 GHz band, plus a national leased-line network. Q-Telecom was connected to OTE and the other mobile operators and promoted nationwide roaming with Vodafone Greece.

It used the 699 prefix for mobile numbers and offered prepaid and postpaid plans, SMS, and fixed-line calling via the carrier selection code 1765. The company advertised per-second billing, no set-up fees, easy mobile number selection, and extra benefits like Q-Family rates.

In 2005, Troy Communications announced plans to buy Q-Telecom for €325 million and to take on €25 million of debt. Troy already owned Wind Hellas (then TIM Hellas). The acquisition closed in October 2006, and Q-Telecom subscribers could roam on Wind Hellas’ network for national roaming. Wind Hellas later did not renew a roaming agreement with Vodafone for Q-Telecom subscribers, so Q-Telecom users could roam nationally only on Wind Hellas.

Wind Hellas and Q-Telecom were later bought by Weather Investments. Postpaid customers received Wind Hellas SIM cards but kept their numbers; existing Q-Telecom cards continued to work, though they roamed on Wind Hellas. New Q-Telecom subscribers got SIMs that looked like Q-cards, with Wind Hellas as their home network.

The Q-Telecom radio network was shut down in May 2007, and its spectrum is now used by Wind Hellas. Q-Telecom employees became Wind Hellas employees. The Q-card remains a prepaid product. Ya! is a prepaid call card that lets people call from home or public phones and is popular with students, young people, tourists, and foreigners in Greece. The card’s name plays on Greek words for “hello” and “for,” with slogans like “Say Hello” and “For everyone.”

Q-Telecom also ran an online shop selling used devices in categories A, B and C, with prices reflecting the device’s condition. The company was well known in Greece for its TV and radio campaigns, featuring cartoon characters called the Q-ies and slogans such as “no fixed fees.”