Three companies bid for mobile phone licence to rival CyTA

THE government has received applications from three companies to participate in next month’s public auction for the first mobile phone licence to be awarded to the private sector.
An announcement from the Communications and Works Ministry named the three companies as Cosmote Telecommunications (Cyprus) Ltd, a local branch of the Greek telcoms giant, Scancom (Cyprus) Ltd and Atlantic Crest Investment Ltd.

The Telecommunications Regulator revealed the names during the opening of the bids, which took place jointly with the Director of the Electronic Communication Department of the Communications and Works Ministry.

The company which will secure the new second generation 20-year mobile telecommunications license will be chosen at the end of October through the process of ascending multiple round auction.
There will also be a pre-qualification process over the next four weeks, after which the auction will begin on October 15 and run until the end of the month, in line with the European Union-directed deregulation process, which dictates that the process be completed by October 30. Cyprus has already been rapped by the European Union for delays in the deregulation process, which it said was six months behind schedule.

The bidding starts at £6.8 million and includes a third generation (3G) licence for the successful applicant.

State-controlled CyTA currently has the monopoly over mobile phone services. Some 65 per cent of Cypriots subscribe to its CyTA GSM service. The figures are applicable only to the Greek Cypriot side. CyTA will also be required to pay a licence fee equal to what the newcomer will pay via auction.

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