2018 Cyprus - Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband - Statistics and Analyses

Cyta embarks of 10-year NGN investment program

Despite the liberalisation of Cyprus’s telecom sector, the market overall continues to be dominated by the incumbent, Cyta, which was only fully privatised in July 2018 following its sale to Vodafone Greece. The sale of the company formed part of a wider financial bailout package and was delayed and amended because of political opposition. Although it is the dominant provider, Cyta has failed to invest adequately in its networks in recent years, resulting in a steady decline in its share of the fixed-voice, broadband and mobile markets. Nevertheless, the company in May 2018 announced plans to make significant investments in a ten-year NGN infrastructure project. One fruit of this project was the launch of an FttP service in the following August, supplemented by vectoring technology on its copper infrastructure in rural areas. The financial and management support of Vodafone will likely lead to further upgrades and innovation in coming years.

Improved regulatory conditions, particularly in relation to network interconnection and access, has given competing operators the confidence to invest in network infrastructure, to make use of unbundled local loops and to launch competing services. The mobile sector saw increased competition in late 2017 following the launch of services by the cableco Cablenet, which had secured LTE-suitable spectrum at auction in mid-2016. The company already operated in the market as an MVNO.

The broadband market is developing steadily following a few years of low growth exacerbated by economic difficulties. DSL remains the dominant access platform, with cable broadband restricted to a single operator, Cablenet. Although Cablenet’s network was for long concentrated in a few key towns, under the management of its majority-owner GO the company has invested in both its fixed-line and mobile networks, and its cable infrastructure covers about half of the island’s premises. Fibre infrastructure in Cyprus is still comparatively in its infancy, with the incumbent telco Cyta having lacked the resources to invest in a fibre network. However, an FttP service is expected to cover about 200,000 premises as part of the overall NGN project.

This report introduces the key aspects of Cyprus’s fixed-line telecoms market, outlining the regulatory environment and providing updated operational and financial data on the major operators. Cyprus is a divided island with most of the information in this report concerned only with the Greek Cypriot area. The report also reviews the broadband and digital media markets, detailing industry developments and key statistics on areas including cable and DSL broadband, fibre networks and IP-delivered services such as videostreaming. In addition, the report assesses the mobile market, covering a range of voice and data services, regulatory developments, and technologies.

Key developments:

• Cyta to invest in ten-year NGN project;
• MTN Group sells Cypriot unit to Monaco Telecom for €260 million;
• Quantum Cable contracts for new submarine cable linking to Greece and Israel;
• Telecom Italy Sparkle and Cyta complete the Kimonas cable subsystem linking Cyprus with Crete;
• Cyta launches FttP services;
• Cablenet sees growth in broadband subscriber base, gains 22% broadband market share;
• Estonian government to help Cyprus develop e-government functions and systems;
• Government commits to all premises having access to 30Mb/s broadband by 2020;
• PrimeTel contracts SmartLabs for videostreaming platform;
• Ministry of Communications completes 800MHz and 2600MHz spectrum auction;
• Report update includes the regulator’s market data to December 2017, operators’ statistical data updates to Q2 2018, recent market developments

Companies mentioned in this report:

Cyta, OTEnet, PrimeTel, Cytamobile-Vodafone, MTN Cyprus, Kibris Telecom, Multichoice, Cablenet