In a bid to meet its self-imposed deadline to liberalize the telecom sector, the government of Cyprus will auction off a new GSM mobile telephone license by November. The island nation hopes to deregulate the sector prior to European Union (EU) accession.
Greek Telecom (OTE) has already expressed interest in the tender, revealing plans to bid for the license through its cellular operator, CosmOTE. Europe’s largest mobile operator, Vodafone affirmed that it would not compete for the tender.
The Cypriot telecom market is currently in a state of partial liberalization. While all voice telephony and mobile communication are monopolized by the state organization, Cyprus Telecommunications Authority (CYTA), certain services like data transmission, value added services, Internet service provisions, and equipment provisions are liberalized.
In March 1998 the EU opened formal membership negotiations with Cyprus, as well as with the Czech Republic Slovenia, Estonia, Poland, and Hungary. Although there is no deadline for entry, it is believe that the most advanced countries could join the EU beginning in 2003. — (menareport.com)
© 2002 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
