Cheaper internet connections on the way

FASTER AND cheaper internet will finally be arriving in Cyprus with the New Year as CyTA, PrimeTel and MTN are all planning to improve their services, bringing them in line with the rest of the European Union.

Internet on the island is one of the slowest in the EU since all the traffic goes through one underwater cable. Prices are also very expensive compared to the rest of the bloc, for example in the UK, you can receive up to 20Mbps for just €12 on average, while in Finland similar speeds are provided for just €7.

In Cyprus you would be looking to pay up to seven times as much for about one fifth of the speed, for example CyTA currently charges €74.02 for a 4Mbps connection and a home telephone service.

However CyTA is looking to double internet speeds starting February 1. “We are planning to double everyone’s speeds in February for free; if you had a 2Mbps connection it will be upgraded to a 4Mbps connection, the 4Mbps will turn into an 8Mbps and so on,” a spokesman said yesterday.

But if a person does not want to be upgraded can he instead pay a lower fee? “We haven’t received anything official yet however it is very possible that customers will have that option, the figures discussed are close to 40 per cent reduction,” he added.

PrimeTel meanwhile is also hoping to reduce fees and increase speeds in 2011 with the introduction of VDSL (Very high bit-rate Digital Line Subscriber). VDSL is considered as next generation DSL and will provide super-accelerated internet connection rates.

“By September 2011 we hope to have at least half of our customers connected via VDSL with speeds of 70Mbps and then by 2013 we hope to have them all connected via VDSL with even higher speeds,” PrimeTel marketing spokesman Stefanos Steafnou said.

In 2011 PrimeTel is also hoping to use a new submarine communications cable system that is under construction in the east Mediterranean. Once it is fully operational, PrimeTel and other internet service providers will no longer need to depend on CyTA for internet access, thus logically enabling them to reduce prices. PrimeTel currently charges €39 for a 4Mbps connection and a home telephone service.

MTN, which provides internet through OTEnet, currently charges €58.39 for a 4Mbps connection and a home telephone service, however it is looking to upgrade services after spending in excess of €20 million to develop fibre optics capabilities.

In November MTN also opened a new state of the art operations and data centre facilities in Latsia, while it too is looking to implement VDSL technology.

“At MTN we are committed to continuous investment aiming to become the telecommunications provider that leads the technological evolution path in Cyprus. Investment in technology means investment in the future,” MTN managing director Bassel Jamaleddine said.

Cablenet is the only fully self sufficient internet service provider on the island. At the moment it offers 10Mbps connection and a home telephone service for €39. However, the underground cabling used to provide internet is limited and most potential customers are out of reach.

 

 

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.