Cyta hangs on to mobile throne, sheds market share

Cyta held on to the throne of Cyprus mobile telecoms, leaving the runners-up content with second place and a steady revenue stream, with lower overheads than the state-owned telco.

Despite Cyta suffering from a receding market share, the regulator OCECPR’s data for June shows that of the 1,295,909 mobile users in the country in June 2021, it commanded a 53% share.

The quasi-state telecom company, that has partnered with Vodafone, held on to top spot, despite recording its lowest market share in the past seven years. Cyta has gone from 66.1% in June 2014, to market shares hovering above 50%.

Coming in second, Epic (formerly MTN) saw its market share drop marginally to 35% in June from 35.3% in December last year, a minor drop for the first time in the past seven years.

Third was Primetel, with a market share of 9.8% from 9.5% in the previous half, followed by the fourth provider, Cablenet, with 2.3%, up from 1.9%.

 

4G and 5G

The introduction of higher-speed internet access on the island, presently at 4G and 5G, has marked Cyta’s downfall when it comes to broadband telephony.

Cyta swept in 42.6% of the market, when it comes to subscriptions including a broadband connection, but was overtaken by Epic with 48.2%. Just last year in June, Cyta was on top with 45.6% against Epic’s 43.6%.

Meanwhile, users of mobile telephony increased by nearly 56,000, according to data released by the Office of the Commissioner for Electronic Communications and Postal Regulation (OCECPR).

In particular, the number of mobile telephone users was up significantly by 55,949 in the first six months of this year compared to the second half of 2020.

The ratio between mobile telephony users in relation to population of Cyprus was up by 6.3% in the first six months of 2021, reaching a penetration rate of 145.9%.