sábado, 6 de mayo de 2017

An expensive broadband in Cyprus



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 UdGUPF 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). 

11 comentarios:

  1. We observe the price is a key factor to spread broadband. Congrats for the international approach!

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  2. Certainly, lower prices promote demand, and it is essential for the Broadband Society. Thanks!

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  3. These cases are very interesting to know the general reality of the international broadband!

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  4. We analyze the reality of broadband in singular countries. Thank you very much!

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  5. Interessant article sobre la banda ampla en un país singular. Us felicito per la visió internacional!

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  6. Interesante artículo internacional. ¡Felicidades!

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