Panafon Hellenic Telecom Co S.A.
22 March 2001

22 MARCH 2001



                  PANAFON-VODAFONE LAUNCHES COMMERCIAL GPRS

                  The first Greek mobile operator to launch

                        GPRS technology based Services



Panafon-Vodafone, the leading provider of mobile telecommunications in Greece,
announces that commercial GPRS services will be launched on March 23rd 2001,
throughout Greece. The services will be available to both retail and corporate
customers.



Panafon - Vodafone becomes the first Greek mobile operator to launch GPRS
technology based services and one of the first companies in the Vodafone group
to provide users with these services. The launch is the culmination of three
months of extensive technical and commercial trials with corporate customers.



Panafon - Vodafone's GPRS technology based services can reach speeds of 36kbps
for the time being, increasing up to more than 100 Kbps compared to the 9.6
Kbps available today. These services accessed through the Panafon - Vodafone
network, will provide customers with the opportunity to enjoy higher data
transmission speeds and other substantial benefits including:



*        Substantial reductions in the cost of data transfer services. Users
will be charged according to the volume of data they have chosen to send or
receive rather than connection time.



*        Improved accessibility to WAP services provided by the
Panafon-Vodafone's portal, www.pan.gr. These services include entertainment
and news, e-commerce, auctions, stock exchange updates and access to other WAP
sites, along with the capability of creating a mobile personalized portal
(MyPan).



*        Connection to the Internet will be offered initially via PANAFONET.
This service will be available shortly and when introduced customers will be
able to connect through their laptop or palmtop to the Internet via a GRPS
handset.



*        Corporate customers will be able to connect their laptop or palmtop
through a GPRS handset to their corporate network (Intranet), substantially
increasing the productivity of mobile executives.



Panafon-Vodafone was on of the first companies to begin technical trials of
GPRS roaming services.



Commenting on the launch of GRPS technology based services, Panafon -
Vodafone's CEO, Mr. George Koronias said, 'Panafon - Vodafone becomes the
first Greek mobile operator to launch GPRS technology based services that will
be available to our entire customer base. GPRS is a significant step towards
the introduction of 3rd generation services. The launch of GPRS services
highlights our clear leadership in the Greek mobile market and reinforces our
commitment to both to our customers and our shareholders'.



                                   --Ends--



For Further Information Contact:


Dimitris Tsorbatzoglou

Panafon Head of Investor Relations  Tel: +301 6160019

[email protected], website www.panafon.gr/en/ir


Stuart Carson,

Tavistock Communications, Tel:  +(44) 20 7600 2288



Nicolas Bornozis ,

Capital Link, Tel: + (212) 661 7566



Notes to Editors:



1.       Panafon's shares are quoted on the Athens Stock Exchange and its GDSs
are quoted on the London Stock Exchange.  The shares and GDS's began trading
on Monday 7 December 1998 in ASE and LSE respectively.

2.       Panafon has 512,500,000 shares in issue.

3.       Panafon is a shareholder in:

Panafon Emporiki            100.00 per cent
(previously Panavox)
Panafon Services            100.00 per cent
Panafon Multimedia          100.00 per cent
Next Net                      26.11 per cent
Unifon                      19.56 per cent (100% merger with Panafon to be
                            approved by shareholders)
Mobitel                     25.01 per cent
Ideal Telecom               51.00 per cent


4.       Panafon was awarded a license to operate a GSM network in Greece for
a period of 20 years in August 1992.  The network commenced operations on 1
July 1993.

5.       Panafon's shareholding structure is as follows:


Vodafone Group Plc                            55 per cent
France Telecom                                3 per cent
Intracom S.A.                                 9.1 per cent
Free float                                    32.9 per cent


PANAFON listings:

Shares: Athens SE, Reuters PANr.AT. Bloomberg PANF GA. Nominal value GRD 100.
ISIN GRS 307 333 005. SEDOL 556 0349.



GDRs: LSE . Reuters PANq.L. Bloomberg PFH GR, PFHD LI. ISIN US 6981 132 060.
SEDOL 556 0361.

Rule 144A: Bloomberg Nasdaq 2250Q US. ISIN US 6981 131 070. SEDOL 230 2629



Indices: Greece ASE composite (ASE): 6.539%, Greece ASE industrial (ASEIND):
16.254%, FTSE/ASE 20: 2.827%, Bloomberg Europe (BE500): 0.059%, BE500 TELECOM
(BETELES): 0.459, DJ EUROPE STOXX (SXXP): 0.025%, DJ EUROPE ST TEL (SXKP):
0.240, FTSE EUROTOP 300 (E300): 0.016%, FTSE E300 TELECO (E3TELE): 0.135%, BBG
EUROPE TECHN (BETECH): 0.387.