New mobile provider to join the fray next month

LEBANESE-backed mobile phone company Scancom, the winners of the island’s first private GSM licence to rival CyTA, are due to enter the market by the middle of next month.

Lebanese-backed Scancom, which will operate under the trade name Areeba, hopes to have its services up and running before July 12, reports said yesterday.

Areeba will initially cover urban areas and highways until its interconnection is made through CyTA. Under the terms of its contract, the company will be eligible for a 50 per cent coverage with its own network within two years. After four years it will be allowed to increases its network coverage to 75 per cent of the island.

Reports have suggested that Areeba will be offering new mobile services not seen before in Cyprus, which are being kept a closely guarded secret.

Scancom has claimed that it is not in competition with CyTA but plans to find its own niche on the market through innovative technology and customer service.

The company won its foray into the Cyprus mobile phone market last December when it placed a winning £12.75 million bid for the 20-year concession, more than double the minimum £5.7 million set by regulators. Scancom, which is active in Africa but not widely known elsewhere, is backed by Lebanese financiers said to have close links to Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri. One of its majority shareholders is Investcom, a company based in Luxembourg.

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.