THE office of the telecommunications regulator yesterday hit back at Areeba, saying “they wanted to get more market share by having us set artificially high prices for CyTA”.
Areeba had accused the regulator, Vassos Pyrgos, of not safeguarding the free market and allowing former monopoly CyTA to stifle the competition.
Areeba headquarters issued a press release saying that, “Cyprus, as a member of the European Union, should take part in actions that promote the liberalisation of the market, creating an environment that attracts investment, for the benefit of the island, its economy and for the consumer.
“While the state remains a competitor through companies it controls, it should create the independent authorities that safeguard the market, as ordained in its rules. This will allow newcomers to enter the market and ensure no distortions or abuses of dominating positions are allowed.”
Areeba went on to say that, “the regulator’s action to deregulate mobile telephony raises questions not only concerning the state’s intentions in its role as a market safeguard, but also on the friendliness of the Cypriot investment environment.”
Since last September, when CyTA handed detailed costs to the regulator in order to secure permission to change its tariffs on fixed and mobile telephony, the regulator has also been accused of stalling, in order to allow Areeba to gain a bigger foothold in the market.
Deputy regulator, Panayiotis Kakkouras, rejected the charge, and said the delay to issue the orders was necessary while the regulator’s office completed its own studies. He insisted this was not related to giving Areeba a head start.
Areeba were given an operating licence by the Cyprus government in November 2003 and opened to the public just under a year later. The first private mobile phone company in Cyprus, Areeba now have 35,000 subscribers, a number they say is increasing on a daily basis. They “offer the consumer a new philosophy on prices” and provide advanced services such as access to the 3G network, where callers can see each other while on the telephone as well as broadband data transfers.
The office of the telecommunications regulator said that “our main responsibility is consumer protection”.
