OTE ordered to pay 3.4 million euros to Thessaloniki over phone booths

The Council of State, Greece's top administrative court, upheld a lower court decision to slap a 3.46-million-euro fine on OTE Telecom for installing phone booths in the northern port city of Thessaloniki without permission from the municipality.

A section of the court decided that the ruling of an administrative appeal court in Thessaloniki was in line with its case law.

The fees and fines were imposed on OTE, Greece’s biggest telecoms operator, between 2001-2003.

The company had argued in the lower court that the municipality's decisions on the fees OTE would have to pay to set up the phone booths around the city were in breach of the constitutional principles of equality and proportionality, and that the fees were set arbitrarily and were extremely high.