By Melina Demetriou
COMMUNICATIONS minister Averoff Neophytou yesterday described as ” an unprecedented phenomenon”the fact that the vast majority of employees at the Cyprus Telecommunications Authority (CyTA) backed a plan to make the Authority a public company.
But opposition DIKO and AKEL remain opposed to the scheme, fearing it could lead to higher call rates and jeopardise employees’ rights.
Neophytou earlier this year submitted a bill to Parliament aimed at turning CyTA into a public company with the state as its main shareholder. The proposal suggests the government should own 94 per cent of the Authority’s shares and CyTA employees and retired staff should buy the remaining six per cent.
” The fact that 90 per cent of CyTA employees are in favour of the bill is an unprecedented phenomenon. I have never heard of anything like this before: A company going public and at the same time keeping its employees happy,”a jubilant Neophytou said yesterday after a meeting of the House Communications Committee convening on the matter.
DIKO and AKEL deputies, however, used the session to voice their opposition to the plan, insisting that it would gradually lead to a sell off of CyTA to the private sector.
Zacharias Koulias of DIKO argued that CyTA’s call rates were currently the cheapest in Europe.
” How do we know that rates won’t hit the roof as happened in Greece after a similar plan was implemented there?”he asked.
George Hadjigeorgiou of AKEL charged that, under the proposed status, CyTA could not guarantee high quality services.
Committee chairman Nicos Pittokopitis of DIKO added CyTA employees’ benefits would not be safeguarded under the new status, as staff would no longer be protected by collective contracts having personal contracts instead. Pittokopitis said AKEL had already tabled a counterproposal before the Committee, suggesting ways to modernise the authority without making it a public company.
The minister, however, was categorical that ” there is no way CyTA can survive as it is in the competitive European environment we are about to enter. The Authority is efficient right now because there are no competitors.”
Neophytou noted that the costs of telecommunications services in Europe had plummeted because of competition.
” CyTA is like a lion chained to bureaucracy and public justice. It needs many years to implement a decision, whereas a private company takes just a few days because it is flexible,”he stressed.
” We can’t change global realities in little Cyprus,”Neophytou said, noting that the plan would not privatise the Authority but simply give it a different status.
The minister also dismissed the argument that call rates would increase, explaining that CyTA would be accountable to a Telecommunications Regulator to be appointed soon.
” The Authority would have to justify its plans to either decrease or increase rates.”
Neophytou said he was willing to discuss the provisions of the state bill with the Committee and find ways to ensure that everyone would continue to enjoy high quality services and that employees would maintain their benefits.
Apart from AKEL and DIKO, who together could secure enough votes to block the plan, the other parties have not positioned themselves on the bill yet.
Most trade unions have reacted favourably to the plan to make CyTA a public company. Left-wing Sidikek PEO, however, argues the move would gradually privatise CyTA.
