THE CYPRUS Telecommunications Authority (CyTA) is optimistic that the House of Representatives will approve its plans to overhaul the way it charges for calls, which could come into affect by the end of October this year.
The cost of international calls will fall, while local rates are expected to rise. At present, expensive international calls subsidise local rates that are the cheapest in Europe.
European Union directives do not permit subsidisation, and for Cyprus to join the EU, the imbalance must be corrected. The telecommunications industry must also be liberalised from January 1, 2003, ending CyTA’s semi-governmental status.
Prices also need to be brought into line with the cost of living allowance, which, since subscription rates were last altered in 1972, has risen by 330 per cent.
"The £15 subscription, is in reality equivalent to £64 today," pointed out Glafcos Houtris, Head of Business Management Support at CyTA.
But liberalisation means that CyTA may be hard pushed to hang on to its current market stranglehold on 431,000 landline subscribers, if costs do not stay competitive.
Local call hikes will also blight Cytanet subscribers, particularly as the Internet becomes more central to homes and offices. But CyTA insisted that local rates would remain the lowest in Europe, despite the increases.
Houtris also pointed out that off peak periods — between 8pm and 7 am, on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays — amounted to "a third of the year".
Tariff alterations are to be implemented in a gradual, three-wave process. The original target dates were April 1 2000, October 1 2000 and April 1 2001.
Given that the first deadline has already been missed and the second could well go by before the changes get House approval, the dates will be re-scheduled.
Trunk and local calls will be made uniform. Local call charges will rise from 1.3 cents per four minutes to 2 cents per two minutes of peak time talk and 2 cents per four minutes at off peak times, by the third phase. District calls will follow suit, dropping from £0.031 per minute at peak times and from £0.022 per minute at reduced times.
Off peak international talk time is set to fall from 4.1 cents a minute to 3 cents a minute, although peak time international calls will increase slightly from 5.7 cents to 6 cents a minute.
Landline connection costs are set to mount, but special services, such as call wake up will be free. The £14 connection fee will rise to £20 in the first phase, to £25 in the second and to £30 in the third.
Subscribers will be forced to choose between two monthly rental packages. The first, designed to suit those who make few calls, charges monthly line rental at £1.25, £2 and £2.50 for each of the three phases respectively. For every connected call, there will be an additional charge of 2 cents. The second leaves out extra costs, but pits monthly charges at £3, £4 and £5 for each phase.
Directory enquiry calls to 192 will rise from 5.2 cents per call to 18 cents per call by the third phase, justified on the grounds that telephone directories are distributed free to all subscribers.
GSM costs, however, will fall, again to ensure competitiveness in a liberal and popular market. The £25 installation fee could fall to £20, with subscription rates falling from £10 to £8. GSM talk time will get cheaper, falling from 4.1 cents a minute to 3 cents a minute.
