New phone provider pledges cheaper rates than CyTA

THE Telecommunications Regulator yesterday granted the first fixed telephony licence to a privately-owned company, which pledged to provide cheaper local and international rates.

The Chairman of the board of Telepassport Telecommunication, former defence minister Socratis Hasikos, said his company would offer cheaper services than CyTA.

“There is a new company, which will offer all the services given by CyTA, always in the framework of healthy competition,” Hasikos said.

The former minister said Telepassport’s services would be of equal and in some cases better quality than CyTA’s with the only difference being they would be cheaper.
Telepassport is committed to providing 15 per cent cheaper local rates and over 15 per cent cheaper international calls, Hasikos said.

People opting for Telepassport will not lose their current phone numbers, and no code will be needed to dial.

“They will simply continue to do what they have been doing until today; lift their handset, dial the number and make their call,” Hasikos said.

To become a Telepassport subscriber, all you have to do is fill an application asking to transfer.

The fixed monthly subscription will still be paid to CyTA, who have the responsibility for the infrastructure.

Hasikos said private companies would in the future be able to provide a new number and have the fixed subscription will paid to them.

He added his company would also move into mobile telephony, pointing out that they were already providing mobile phone services, especially international, through the CyTA network.

Hasikos said Telepassport would be contacting the second mobile telephony provider in a bid to provide lower prices in that area too.

Telecommunications Regulator Vassos Pyrgos said his department was studying two more applications and that new licences would be issued if they fulfilled the criteria.
“The fact that one special licence was given means further opening of the competition, more choices for citizens and another step in the involvement of more companies in the telecommunications market, which is what’s required for the further liberalisation of the market,” Pyrgos said.

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.