Broadband is improving in a lot of
countries. It is the case of Cyprus, analyzed in collaboration with Myria
Efthymiou. Probably the broadband of each country is different and they have
their own and different providers. In Cyprus the ADSL broadband technology is the
most well-known with many providers, which offer
packages from 1Mbps to 2Mbps.
In Cyprus we have the ADSL Internet
connectivity from 2001 and it is available in areas at speeds from 256Kbps to
8Mbps. The biggest Telecom companies in Cyprus are CYTA and Primetel which offer more than a number of
ISPs provide broadband to home and business users. Apart from these Telecoms
there is also OTEnetwhich have its own broadband and don’t use these platforms.
Unfortunately, the ADSL broadband in Cyprus
is the most expensive one in Europe. A person in order to get the ADSL needs
three things: rent for telephone line, connection fee to the platform and fee
to the Internet service provider. If you decide to get this from CYTA you have to pay all of them in
one bill. However, if you go with Primetel you pay separately. Also Digital TV
solution is not included so if you want to have local and several international
TV channels, video on Demand and Games you have to pay extra. (Cyprus-broadband,
no date)
Another provider that recently became
available in Cyprus is Cablenet which is
a Cable TV network, Cable internet. Cablenet
is available in few urban areas at speeds up to 100Mbps. (Cyprus-broadband, no
date)
If you live in area with no ADSL
broadband you have the option of Satellite Internet solution but is much more
expensive. The Satellite Internet solution it is offered by resellers of
International companies or you can have a self-install and buy from other
European or Middle Eastern companies. Also you have two options of Satellite
Internet solution, the One-way and the Two-way. The difference between them is
that, with the One-way satellite you can only receive details. As I said above
the Satellite is expensive so if you decide to have it you should know that you
need expensive equipment and a monthly payment. Another thing you should
consider is that, satellite have few problems such as signal is not that good
as it travels 1000s miles out into space to the Satellite and then back to
earth as a result games and skype for example don’t work well. Moreover, there
are download restrictions which make
impossible to download huge files or any other thing.
However, if you want to be able to
download big context and have more speed, then you have to get Onspeed. Onspeed is much
cheaper than Satellite as it costs only 25 UK pounds per year and if you have
also ADSL broadband then your internet will be more than fast.
Except from the Telecoms carriers, the
Cable TV network and the Satellite Internet solution you can get ADSL broadband
with the 3G data cards which is offered by Cytamobile Vodafone and MTN mobile carriers. As you can see
on the websites in order to get some GB internet is very expensive especially
if you like to have the unlimited package which in other European countries you
can get it cheaper.
In addition to everything above, according
to ant1
iwo, as Cyprus has the highest expensive broadband in Europe, a citizen in
order to get ADSL broadband has to spend about 3% of its gross income, while the EU overall is about
1,3%. Also in Cyprus all the houses have access to fixed broadband services but
32% of the houses don’t have subscription to them yet, thing that make Cyprus
undeveloped in digital economy. Moreover, 28% of the population has never used
the Internet and only 48% have the basic digital skills such as emails, using
editing tools, installing new devices, etc. The fact that only 48% have these
skills is a big obstacle to the economic development of the country as digital
skills nowadays are needed for the entire workforce.
Apart from these, the connectivity in
Cyprus is relatively the worse compared with the other European countries and
without any improvement with the last year. With an overall rating 0.43 of connectivity,
the country ranked the 24th place among the European countries.
The positive thing in Cyprus is that
we have access to the high speed Internet, which has better performance than
the rest Europe countries. There are networks which can provide fast
connection, which is minimum 30 Mbps and it is available in 77% of Cypriot
households, compared with Europe where is 62%.
However, only 4.4% of the subscribers
of the fixed Internet use the high-speed connections. According to European
Commission, Cyprus has to ‘’push’’ its citizen to start using Internet in order
to develop their digital economy and society. While the digital economy remains
undeveloped then Cyprus limits the exploitation of the benefits of investment
in digital technologies, but also the benefits that the citizens can have of
their participation in a wide range online activities.
Cypriots might show interested of
using the internet. However, they avoid using the internet for their
transactions, mainly because of the loss of trust but also since Cyprus remain
back in electronic banking but also in electronic markets. Specifically, the
percentage of the Cypriots who use electronic banking is 35% and 38% who use
online shopping. If you compare these percentages with Europe is much lower as
there is 57% and 63% respectively.
Furthermore, Cypriots companies have
to exploit better the possibilities offered by the electronic commerce. The
percentage of companies which use technologies such as the electronic exchange
of information is high. The Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), with 36%, and
social media, with 24%, is higher than the EU average which is 31% and 14%,
respectively. There are only few SME in Cyprus operating online sales with the
percentage of 10% and even fewer make online sales in other EU Member States
with only 6.1%.
However, there are only few Cypriot
companies using the Radio-Frequency Identification, electronic invoices and the
cloud computing services. Therefore, they need to start using these services
more so they could increase efficiency and productivity.
We
analyze international broadband evolution (here, the Scottish case) in this
blog, in Research Group about Digital Journalism and Marketing and Broadband
and in Research Group on Innovative Monetization Systems of Digital Journalism,
Marketing and Tourism (SIMPED), from CECABLE, Escola
Universitària Mediterrani of UdG, UPF and Blanquerna-URL, in Twitter
(@CECABLEresearch), Google+,
in the group of
LinkedIn, in the page of LinkedIn,
in the group of
Facebook, in Instagram (CECABLE), in Pinterest and in this
blog. We will go in deep in the XXIII Cable and
Broadband Catalonia Congress (10-11 April 2018, Barcelona).
We observe the price is a key factor to spread broadband. Congrats for the international approach!
ResponderEliminarCertainly, lower prices promote demand, and it is essential for the Broadband Society. Thanks!
ResponderEliminarThese cases are very interesting to know the general reality of the international broadband!
ResponderEliminarWe analyze the reality of broadband in singular countries. Thank you very much!
ResponderEliminarA nice article! Congrats!
ResponderEliminarThank you very much!
ResponderEliminarInteressant article sobre la banda ampla en un país singular. Us felicito per la visió internacional!
ResponderEliminarMoltes gràcies, Carles!
ResponderEliminarInteresante artículo internacional. ¡Felicidades!
ResponderEliminar¡Muchas gracias!
ResponderEliminarThank you very much!
ResponderEliminar