Cyprus, the ancient island with human activity known since around the 10th millennium BC, represents a Eurasian island country in the Eastern Mediterranean, located south of Turkey and west of Syria and Lebanon. Cyprus, populated by slightly over 1 million people, ranked the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of its most popular tourist destinations. The Republic of Cyprus is de facto partitioned into two main parts, the area under the effective control of the Republic of Cyprus, comprising about 59% of the island's area and the Turkish-occupied area in the north, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, covering about 37% of the island's area and recognized only by Turkey. The country can boast of high-income economy, that claims to be prosperous and has diversified over the recent years, with a very high Human Development Index. The island member is a member of the variety of different International organizations, including EU, WTO, Australia Group, UNESCO, IMF, etc.
Cyprus has been relatively slow in adopting and developing Internet connection services, being also slack to liberalize its telecommunications market and ally its legislation with that of the EU. CYTA, the national telecommunications provider of Cyprus, manages most Telecommunications and Internet connections on the island. Nevertheless, following the recent liberalization of the ICT sector, a few private telecommunications companies entered the market, like MTN, Cablenet, TelePassport, OTEnet Telecom and PrimeTel.
The most widespread broadband technology in Cyprus is ADSL, being offered by great number of providers with packages that range from 256kbit/s to 8 Mbit/s. Cable broadband is also available in a few urban locations with speeds up to 10Mbit/s.
Internet access was initially offered by CYTA in 1995 under the Cytanet brand. The company is currently offering its customers a range of broadband services DSL Access (or i-choce). CYTA owns most of the telecom infrastructure in Cyprus and its ADSL service has the widest coverage. CYTA meantime provides a wide range of services and facilities which aim to satisfy the ever-increasing needs of its customers for voice and data applications in both fixed and mobile telephony. Particular emphasis is placed on the provision of value added services, such as content/multimedia via the Internet which, according to industry projections, supposed to be the dominant business activity of the next decade. CYTA intends to further expand its operations in ICT markets offering the same reliable service its national customers enjoy.
The other telecommunication market players representing CYTY’s main broadband rivals are:
• PrimeTel - a relatively new player in the telecommunications sector of Cyprus. It is currently the main competitor of the CYTA.
• Cablenet - the only Cable TV and Cable Internet carrier in Cyprus. Currently, the coverage is limited only to several urban areas, mostly in Nicosia. The difference between Cable Internet and ADSL is that unlike ADSL (i-choice, Primetel) that delivers Internet connection via the telephone line that is already installed in subscriber’s home. Connection is provided to Cablenet with a separate coaxial cable that is installed once the service is purchased.
The other, smaller, Cyprus’ ISPs, according to cyprusbroadband.net, are represented by:
• netrunner by cytanet
• otenet
• netway
• spidernet
• logosnet
• wavespeed
• avacom net
• planitis.net
• thunderworx.com
• teledev.net
• Spidernet.
.
Meanwhile, different types of alternative Internet connection in Cyprus have been successfully developed.
Satellite Internet in the country is provided by resellers of international companies. But a person could also do a self-install and buy a subscription from another European or Middle Eastern company. Satellite Internet requires expensive equipment, usually more than a thousand euro, and a monthly subscription which could be multiple times more than what would pay for ADSL.
3G internet connection has also been rolling out. Thus using 3G mobile phone, a 3G modem or a specialized 3G data card subscribers can link the internet with broadband speeds of up to 384Kbps or up to 1.8Mbps in the case of 3.5G (HSDPA). However, 3G coverage is limited to urban and suburban areas, where usually the better and more cost effective ADSL connectivity will be available.
Onspeed Internet connection type is also available in Cyprus. Onspeed is a program that uses patented compression technologies to significantly increase the speed of the internet connection. Dial-up speeds are increased by up to 10 times, broadband by up to 5 times and Mobile connections (GPRS/3G) by up to 8 times. Onspeed cis rather cheap as it costs only £25 UK pounds per year.
Rapid deployment of Internet connection services, impacted Internet penetration growth of almost 180% for the decade. Thus, if in 2000 less than 15% Cypriots has Internet access, by the end of 2009 the amount of users has increased to almost 31%, according to internetworldstats.com .
Country’s national code top-level domain (ccTLD) is .cy, administered by University of Cyprus. Two years registration agreement is very expensive - $395, compared to the costs in many other developed European countries: $35 in UK, $89 in Spain or even $139 in Denmark. (http://www.rwgusa.com).
As for the restrictions, registration is limited to residents of Cyprus or companies and organizations registered with the government there; the personal or business registration number is required on registration. Some additional restrictions exist for various subdomains, but .com.cy is unrestricted to Cypriot entities. The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus inhabitants use .nc.tr ccSLD (a second-level domain to a country code top-level domain).
Cypriots can also be directly subscribed under the second level domains:
ac.cy - Academic and research institutions.
net.cy - Internet or Network service providers.
gov.cy - Governmental institutions.
org.cy - Not for profit organisations.
pro.cy - Professional organizations.
name.cy - Natural persons.
ekloges.cy - Organizations or persons related to elections.
tm.cy - Officially registered trademarks.
ltd.cy - Private and public limited companies.
biz.cy - Any other registered company.
press.cy - Organizations and entities connected to the press.
parliament.cy - The Cyprus Parliament and associated entities.
com.cy - Commercial entities (unrestricted registration for Cypriot entities).
Like a number of small island countries, Cyprus managed to become one of the offshore jurisdictions, despite it used to be slow adopting e-commerce.
Cyprus passed a number of laws in 2004 relating to e-commerce, including the Regulation of Electronic Communications and Posts Law, and the Legal Framework for Electronic Signatures and for Relevant Matters Law, according to lawtax.net The 2002 Law on Radiocommunications was also amended. These laws included the transposition of the EU's regulatory framework into national law, although Cyprus was slow off the mark introducing the necessary secondary legislation for the Law on Electronic Communications.
As the Cyprus government believes the island is a communications hub and an international business centre in the Eastern Mediterranean region due to the forward-looking policies of the Cyprus Telecommunications Authority (CYTA).
In 2000 Laiki Bank introduced the first electronic banking in Cyprus, under the name of Laiki eBank, aiming to allow banking and stock market transactions via the Internet. Laiki eBank customers are enabled to trade securities on the CSE, track developments on the CSE and have a live update of their portfolio.
The Bank of Cyprus Internet Banking Service delivers the variety of solutions:
• Money Transfers (Between accounts, To 3rd party accounts held in Bank of Cyprus, To Other Banks and Co Operative Companies in Cyprus, Abroad)
• Account Balances
• Past Transactions
• Chequebook Ordering
• Statement Ordering
• Stop Payment of Cheque
• Utility Payments (CYTA,EAC)
• On-Line Securities Dealing
Being a successful offshore jurisdiction, Cyprus hosts tens of thousands of offshore enterprises already installed, including many trading companies. It is only a matter of time before Cyprus becomes a centre of e-commerce activity.
However, the effective abolition of Cyprus's offshore regime as a consequence of its entry to the EU, and the introduction of a uniform 10% rate of corporation tax have likely also had an impact on the attractions of Cyprus as an e-commerce base as compared with truly offshore jurisdictions, as of lowtax.net data.
So, if you’d sometimes decide to settle any offshore or e-commerce business, Cyprus offshore jurisdiction may become a great choice for you. Island’s matured ICT infrastructure, sufficiently advanced e-commerce industry with its highly developed e-banking sector will let you create successful business of your dream. The island's geographical location, its good telecommunications links and its sophisticated business infrastructure promises a strong e-future for Cyprus. And it is only a matter of time before Cyprus becomes a centre of e-commerce activity.
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