CyTA price cut injunction lifted

THE telecommunications regulator yesterday withdrew an injunction that had prevented CyTA from cutting international call rates.

The injunction had been issued around a week ago following a CyTA announcement of up to 95 per cent reductions to some international destinations.

Telecommunications regulator Vassos Pyrgos said CyTA had to prove that its actions were not aimed at strangling competition and remaining a monopoly.
Yesterday, Pyrgos withdrew the injunction, paving the way for consumers to enjoy lower costs on fixed telephony.

At the same time, CyTA announced that lower rates would be retroactive, and would include all calls made since February 1.

The authority also announced further reductions on fixed telephony as well as two new services.

Local calls at peak times will be cut by a further 25 per cent – from two cents per two minutes to 1.5 cents, effective immediately.

Come March, CyTA will introduce substantial discounts on the total charges concerning fixed telephony calls.

The reductions could reach 30 per cent, depending on the volume of certain calls, CyTA said.

The percentage of the discount will be calculated on the total charges of all lines – analogue or ISDN – belonging to a client.

From zero to 20 cents there will be no reduction, from 20 to 29.99, the discount will be 10 per cent, 30 to 74.99, 15 per cent, 75 to 199.99, 20 per cent, 200 to 399.99, 25 per cent and over 400 cents will mean a 30 per cent discount.

However, monthly subscription for the normal use package (A) will go up from £5 to £7.25 and the low use package (B) from £1.50 to £3.

CyTA stressed that the two-cent per successful call rate would remain in effect for package B.

In addition, a minimum number of 30 calls would be necessary from March 1 to qualify for the cheap package, CyTA said.

The authority also introduced two new Internet services, i-choice256 and i-choice512 with maximum speeds of 256 kbps at £11.50 and 526 kbps at £15 per month.

Current packages I-choice and I-choice2 with top speed 640 kbps will be replaced by I-choice1000 with 1,024 kbps at the same cost — £18 per month.
Rates do not include the monthly subscription or Internet access costs.

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