Cyta signs deal with US internet experts

THE CYPRUS Telecommunications Authority (Cyta) has signed a bi-lateral operating deal with US telecommunications provider IDT Corporation.

The operating agreement will establish a direct fibre-optic connection between the companies for international long distance phone calls. IDT’s international switch in London will be linked with Cyta’s switch, allowing IDT to provide better telephone access and lower rates to Middle Eastern and European countries. In return, Cyta will also be able to route its telephone traffic through IDT’s network.

Although a Cyta spokesman described the deal as “routine”,

IDT president Jim Courter presented the agreement as a major coup for the corporation.

“Partnering with Cyta is integral to our expansion plan throughout Europe and the Middle East,” he said.

IDT has already bought more than 12,000 km of undersea cable connecting the US, Canada and the UK. This allows it to offer long distance services to more than 225 countries, with over 400,000 retail customers.

IDT is a US leader in Internet telephony – the routing of phone calls over the Internet at a substantially reduced rate.

With the popularity of the Internet gathering momentum in Cyprus, current legal restrictions on routing overseas calls through the net may yet be lifted. If this were to happen Cyta could potentially use IDT resources to offer its customers even faster and cheaper telephone services.

Cyta is currently the only telecommunications provider on the island, although Cyta Chairman Michalakis Zivanaris said this would change as Cyprus harmonises its legislation with the European Union.

With a pre-tax surplus of £26.2 million in 1996 – up 62.7 per cent from 1995 – Cyta is considered to be the most lucrative semi-government organisation in Cyprus.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.