United Group announced today it has set up a new business unit dedicated to coordinating telecommunications wholesale activities across the Group with the intention of becoming a market leader for wholesale services in the region.

The new business, called UGI Wholesale, is based in Greece and will consolidate all wholesale activities into a single unit, covering data services, roaming & mobile services, and wholesale voice.

Establishing UGI Wholesale is a significant and logical step in United Group’s strategy. The company is well positioned to become a leading player on the regional telecommunications wholesale market.

The Group’s fibreoptic network extends thousands of kilometres. It has access to a total market of more than 40 million people, has data centre coverage, and its markets Greece and Bulgaria are positioned on the main route for traffic between Western Europe and the Middle East and Mediterranean.

“We are the only independent carrier in the region with such a footprint. As a company we are known for providing services of the highest quality to residential customers and businesses. Now we are expanding into wholesale to bring this same excellence,” said United Group Chief Executive Officer Victoriya Boklag.

“United Group is the natural partner for any company that plans to expand its business in the region or for transiting to or from the main European POP. This includes everything from backbone needs to a wide variety of services for corporate customers,” she added.​

The Group believes a strong regional player will be attractive, offering partners a single point of entry to all UGI telecommunications assets with a single agreement, superb services quality and flexibility, with a single operations centre monitoring services end to end.

United Group has appointed Paolo Ficini CEO of the new business. Ficini joins United Group from Telecom Italia Sparkle, part of Telecom Italia Group, where for the past 8 years he has held roles including CEO for subsidiaries both in Greece and Turkey.

United Group’s telecommunications network stretches across Europe, covering the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Montenegro, and Greece.

Operating in both the telecommunications and media sectors, the United Group platform combines the leading operators and best content producers in Southeast Europe. The company is active in eight countries and has approximately 11 million users and 12,500 employees.