Cyprus

Flag of the Republic of Cyprus (= South)

Basics

Politically the island of Cyprus is divided into two parts. The Greek-speaking Republic of Cyprus in the south which is a member of EU and the Turkish-affiliated part in the north which calls itself KKTC or TRNC in English.

This split is reflected in the phone system as well. In the south different providers operate than in the north and there is no roaming at all between them (even if Vodafone owns a network in every part). A call from north to south is possible, but will be billed as a foreign call to another continent. The sovereign base areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia are covered by the same operators as Southern Cyprus.

For a tourist it's very easy nowadays to cross the border at Nicosia and visit the other part. But you should know that you will lose coverage soon. Furthermore, the north is not part of EU, so roaming prices are not regulated. Visiting the entire island, you may think of buying two SIM cards because of the present situation. In the south, the highest rates for data within the EU used to be charged, but now some cheaper packages appeared on the local market. Compare EU roaming options to it.

First the networks of the south (Republic of Cyprus) are shown:

• Cyta Vodafone
• epic (formerly MTN)
• PrimeTel

Flag of the KKTC (= Northern Cyprus)

Then the networks in the north (KKTC):

• KKTC Turkcell
• KKTC Telsim (Vodafone)

which are associated with the Turkish phone system. The restrictions about registration and taxes for foreign mobile devices enforced in mainland Turkey (see Turkey) don't apply to Northern Cyprus.

2G is on 900 and 1800 MHz, 3G on 2100 MHz, 4G/LTE is in the Republic (South) on all three networks on 1800 MHz (B3) available for prepaid. More spectrum on 800 and 2600 MHz (B20 and B7) followed. There is no 4G/LTE in the northern part yet.

The Republic of Cyprus in the South (but not Northern Cyprus) is part of the EU, where since 2017 new international roaming rules have been enforced. In most European countries you can now 'roam like at home' at domestic rates rather than excessive roaming rates.

The providers in the southern part of Cyprus have applied this rule to all of their prepaid plans without major restrictions. But be aware that the other part of the island is outside the free roaming area. For specifics about the new regulation check European Union chapter and every provider below.

To avoid being connected to a KKTC network by mistake, disable automatic network selection, make a manual network selection and lock the southern network as long as you are using an European SIM card for roaming in the Rep. of Cyprus under "roam like at home" rules.

We start with the Greek-speaking Republic of Cyprus. You will notice that data prices are among the highest in Europe similar to Greece, while network coverage is below par. So you might think of bringing your EU SIM card with you and better roam in the South. The only European SIM card that includes both parts of Cyprus at low domestic rates if that of Vodafone Spain.

Cyta (by Vodafone)

Cyta for CYprus Telecommunication Authority is jointly owned by the Government of the Rep. of Cyprus and Vodafone and still the biggest operator in the country giving a reasonable coverage at the highest rates around.

4G/LTE has started in 2015 in the towns of Nicosia, Limassol, Larnaca, Paphos. It's available for prepaid users without a surcharge.

Availability

Their prepaid SIM card is called "soeasy". They sell it everywhere (in the airports, supermarkets, kiosks etc.): store locator. Default PIN is 1234.

Recharges

There are reload cards (vouchers) for €5, €10, €20 and €35 available. A top-up of €10 or more is valid for 365 days. You can recharge online with a non Cyprus-issued credit card, if you ask for an authorization code by email at top-up@soeasy.com.cy and use it here.

They have also introduced data top-up cards with discounted mobile data:

• €5: 1.2 GB for 30 days
• €10: 3 GB for 30 days
• €15: 6 GB for 30 days

These data top-up cards are only valid on soeasy voice and data plans, not on Vodafone mobile internet plans (see below).

Check balance by *110#.

Soeasy plan

This plan is for smartphones and talk, text and data. The starter pack is sold for €7.50 and contains 5 € credit and 100 domestic SMS valid for 90 days.

Default rate is still at high €0.15 per MB. So better use packages. They offer either combo plans or data-only packages.

The combo packs need to be activated by texting "on soeasy plus" to 8000. These three monthly combos are sold:

Top-up	Voice	SMS	Data	Credit
€ 10	100 mins	100	1 GB	€ 3
€ 20	300 mins	300	2 GB	€ 3
€ 35	600 mins	600	4 GB	€ 3

These data packages are sold:

Package	Validity	Data	Price	Activation code
soeasy MI day	1 day	200 MB	€ 1.50	MI Day
soeasy MI week	1 week	400 MB	€ 3	MI Week
soeasy MI month small	1 month	1.2 GB	€ 5	MI Small
soeasy MI month	1 month	3 GB	€ 10	MI Month
soeasy MI monthly XL	1 month	6 GB	€ 15	MI XL

For activation, text activation code to 8000. After you have consumed the internet pack you have purchased, it will charge you a basic rate €0.25 per ΜΒ unless you purchase a new pack. For this reason they will inform you through SMS when your pack has been consumed. You can purchase as many mobile internet packs as you like at any moment. Consumption will take place from the pack you have purchased earlier until it is exhausted.

Vodafone mobile Internet

VMI is their data only SIM which is sold for €14.95 including 1 GB data valid for 15 days.

These packages can be added:

Validity	Data	Price
5 days	500 MB	€ 5
10 days	1 GB	€ 10
20 days	2.2 GB	€ 20
40 days	4.1 GB	€ 35

The validity period is extended every time you top-up your account. The extension duration in days is shown in the table below. Your service will be deleted 180 days after the expiration of the credit validity period unless you top-up your account before that date.

EU roaming

Cyta generally implements "roam like home" principles with roaming at domestic rates in the EU without restrictions on all their prepaid offers.

More info

• APN: cytamobile

• Website in English: https://www.cyta.com.cy/personal/en

epic (formerly: MTN Cyprus)

new logo

Epic is the second network operator in the Republic: Coverage map. In 2018 it was sold to Monaco Telecom who rebranded them in June 2019 to epic. It gives out data at slightly more competitive rates than Cyta at a slightly lower coverage.

4G/LTE started in 2015 on 1800 MHz in major towns and is now available to prepaid users too. In 2017 about 93% of the population are supposed to be covered on 1800 MHz (B3) and 800 MHz (B20). 

Availability

SIM card is available for €2 with €1 and 50 MB pre-loaded credit. They sell it everywhere (in the airports, supermarkets, kiosks etc.): Store locator.

Recharges

Top-ups are available through vouchers or electronic recharge. Denominations are €5, €10, €20, €35 and €50.

By texting the word 'ON' to 6040 you can activate their All in one Bonus Scheme for top-ups of €10 or more valid for 30 days:

Top-up	Voice	SMS	Data
€ 10	40 mins	100	30 MB
€ 20	120 mins	250	60 MB
€ 35	240 mins	500	90 MB
€ 50	400 mins	750	150 MB

They also sell data top-up cards in these values:

• €5: 850 MB for 10 days
• €10: 2 GB for 30 days
• €15: 4 GB for 30 days

The Data Top-Up cards are only available for electronic top-up and can only be used within Cyprus.

According to customer care top-ups with international credit cards are only available through a partner site, which however takes high commission. Alternatively you can top up commission-free online with JCCSmart. (This should work with the other providers as well.)

Check your balance by dialing *202#. Their prepaid voice and data plan is called Pay As You Go.

Pay As You Go

Default rate for data is a high €1.02 per MB.

You should buy better buy one of these bundles called Pay as you surf:

Validity	Data	Price	Activation
1 day	100 MB	€ 1.5	data on day
1 week	300 MB	€ 4	data on week
1 month	1000 MB	€ 10	data on month
1 month	2000 MB	€ 15	data on month 2000

Activation is by texting the code to 6040.

Mega Bundle: 1000 minutes of airtime and 1000 SMS to all epic numbers, as well as 1 GB for € 7. Validity period is 10 days. You can activate it with sending the text '''ON''' to the number 8500. You can activate more times, and you will receive the airtime, SMS and MBs again.

Holiday Prepaid Pack

For tourists they have introduced their Holiday Prepaid Pack. It's sold at €20 with 4 GB for 15 days. While data is on default at the excessive € 1.02/MB rate, you can add all 4 data packages from above to this tourist SIM. It includes reduced internatl. SMS and calls to Sweden, Norway, Russia, Germany and the UK.

The account is valid for 30 days from activation and can be renewed with top-up cards the validity period of which varies based on the value of the top up card. When the validity period of the account expires, any remaining balance will not be lost and can be used when the account is reactivated. The account can be reactivated within 180 days from its expiration. In any other case the SIM card number will be deactivated and may be allocated to another subscriber. 

EU roaming

Epic has generally implemented "roam like home" principles with roaming at domestic rates in the EU without restrictions on all their prepaid offers.

More info

• APN: internet

• Website in English: https://www.epic.com.cy/en/page/start/home

PrimeTel

PrimeTel PLC is a multiservice provider with various fixed broadband and mobile services. It is very popular for ADSL, TV and landline phone service in the South. It's the first MVNO in the Republic of Cyprus too.

It started in 2011 using the Cytamobile network. In 2014 they have been granted a license to build own physical network on 3G and 4G/LTE. It has already covered 60% of territory by its own 4G/LTE and 99% on its own 3G since 2015, making Cyta no more needed, but roaming with Cyta is still operational for 2G (GSM/GPRS/EDGE) modes. 4G/LTE is open for prepaid customers without surcharge. Be aware that 4G coverage is still spotty in rural areas.

Availabilty

Their starter packs are available at the airports, supermarkets, some kiosks, mobile phone shops and their own stores (shops list) for €2 with €1 credit and 50 MB preloaded.

For top-ups reload cards are sold with heavy bonuses for €5, €10, €20, €35 and €50. You can recharge online using any international Visa/MasterCard credit card on their website

They give the highest bonuses for top-ups. To activate this bonus text 'ON' to 8133. These bonuses are awarded valid for 30 days:

Top-up	Voice	SMS	Data
€ 5	20 mins	20	0
€ 10	100 mins	150	100 MB
€ 20	250 mins	300	200 MB
€ 35	450 mins	600	350 MB
€ 50	unlimited	800	500 MB

Voice minutes are on-net on Primetel only.

They also have released special data top-up cards in three denominations:

• € 5: 1 MB for 10 days
• € 10: 2.5 GB for 30 days
• € 15: 5 GB for 30 days

Check your account balance by *133#, check how much Internet left by*138*2#, check Super Bundle status and how much left, by *138*3#, check Bonus Balance by *138# and change language by *135*2# for English.

Super Bundle Pack

This is probably the best offer for a short stay in Cyprus (South): you get 1.5 GB, 1000 minutes of calling to Primetel and 1000 SMS to Primetel network for 10 days at € 8. To get this package, send SMS with text 'ON8' to 8133.

Regular Pay As You Go rates

For prepaid subscribers, default charge and overuse rate for mobile internet is € 0.25 per MB. These packages are offered:

Data	Value	Validity	Activation
200 ΜB	€ 1.50	1 day	MB1
1 GB	€ 5	7 days	MB7
2.5 GΒ	€ 10	30 days	MB30
5 GB	€ 15	30 days	MB30 2500

For activation text code to 8133.

Travel Internet Pack

This is a special data-only SIM card made for tourists. Similar to epic, they sell the SIM card at €20 with 2.5 GB pre-loaded valid for 20 days. You can buy this product at the airport arrivals (Larnaca or Paphos) and at selected kiosks all over the island.

To buy more data, you can add one of these packages:

Data	Validity	Price
250 MB	2 days	€ 5
500 MB	7 days	€ 10
2 GB	14 days	€ 20
3.5 GB	20 days	€ 35
5 GB	30 days	€ 50

Purchase of these packages is online through your account. 4G/LTE is supported. A triple size SIM (nano, micro, mini) is given out. Note that it supports only data, neither voice calls nor SMS service.

Check the detailed users guide in English from the official website. After the expiration of the initial data, you can purchase more data for a period of 90 days. After the 90 days of service the SIM card becomes inactive regardless of your loaded credit.

EU roaming

Primetel has generally implemented "roam like at home" principles with roaming at domestic rates in the EU without restrictions on all their prepaid offers.

More info

• Tethering is allowed, speed is not limited, but Fair Use Policies (FUP) are active: using torrents or other P2P applications is limited by speed throttling.
• APN: ip.primetel
• Websites in English: http://primetel.com.cy/en/ and http://www.payasyougo.com.cy/en/

SOUTHERN PART (Republic of Cyprus, Greek) above

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NORTHERN PART (KKTC, Turkish) below

Basic information

The Turkish-controlled Northern part of Cyprus (called KKTC or in English Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, short: TRNC) is connected to the Turkish phone network, sharing the same country code with Turkey (+90). The prefix for KKTC Turkcell is +90 533 and for Telsim Vodafone +90 542.

Dialing from North to South is possible, but is billed as an international long-distance call. Generally it's not advisable to use a SIM from the South in the North or vice versa. A few European providers like Vodafone in the UK include both parts in their EU roaming zone and can be a good option.

In the KKTC prices are still sometimes shown as units (so-called Kontör) instead of the local currency TL (Turkish Lira). 1 unit equals 0.065 TL.

Note that Northern Cyprus (KKTC) - in contrary to the south - is not part of the EU, where since 2017 new international roaming rules have been enforced. Using a roaming SIM in the KKTC, you'll be charged the same as in Turkey and thus high surcharges may be applied on European or even Southern Cyprus SIM cards. Better use a Turkish or local SIM card instead.

Coming to the North, you will notice that prices are mich lower than in the South. But you will not be able to roam down there. A local SIM card from the North can only be used in mainland Turkey.

Note that Vodafone UK used to roam without surcharges in Turkey. This applied to the KKTC as well until May 2020. From then on, it's only for surcharge. The only remaining SIM to include both the Greek and Turkish side at domestic EU rates is that of Vodafone Spain.

Furthermore, the KKTC is one of the very few regions in Europe in 2019 when still no 4G/LTE networks are operative. This is due to the lack of connectivity to the mainland. Now, 4G/LTE is finally announced for 2020 on both networks. So far you are confined only to 3G speeds for now in the KKTC.

All prepaid lines in the KKTC must be registered by November 2019 or will be closed. So from now on you need to buy and register your prepaid SIM in a branded store of the operator by showing your ID.

KKTC Turkcell

KKTC Turkcell is the North Cyprus branch of the leading Turkish network provider Turkcell. Like with Vodafone below you can now use data in KKTC and Turkey without surcharges.

The rates are still charged in "Kontör" = units. 1 unit is 0.065 TL.

Availability

The SIM card is sold in all Turkcell shops (store locator) for 15 TL with 100 units (worth 6.5 TL) of credit.

You can recharge online using almost any credit card (Visa/MasterCard) on the following website. Process is pretty straightforward (in English), it recharges your account instantly. Minimal amount to load is 400 units or 26 TL.

Data feature packs

Default data rate is 11 units (0.715 TL) per 100 KB. The following packages can be activated:

Data	Time	Units	= TL	Activation
100 MB	1 day	77	5	GUNLUK
1 GB	7 days	291	19	HAFTALIK1
500 MB	30 days	538	35	500
1 GB	30 days	692	45	1
2 GB	30 days	849	55	2
4 GB	30 days	1154	75	4
10 GB	30 days	1369	89	10
20 GB	30 days	1769	115	15
30 GB	30 days	2138	139	20

For activation text code to 1111. Wait until the package is confirmed by text message. To deactivate text "IPTAL" to 1111.

Tourist SIMs

For visiting tourists they sell special packages:

• Haftalık Turist Surfer Paketi (= weekly Tourist Surfer Package) with 2 GB, 50 internaional mins and 500 international SMS at 39 TL. To re-activate, text 'SURFER' to 2966
• Monthly Tourist Flex Package comes in three sizes:
  • 2 GB and 50 international mins: 50 TL, activation 'FLEX1' to 1001
  • 1 GB and 100 international mins: 50 TL, activation: 'FLEX2' to 1001
  • 500 MB and 150 international mins: 50 TL, activation: 'FLEX3' to 1001

Unlimited Lifecell WiFi is added for free.

More info

• APN: cepten.kktcell /or/ internet.kktcell

• Website in English: https://www.kktcell.com/en

Telsim Vodafone (KKTC Telsim)

Telsim Vodafone, a.k.a. KKTC Telsim is the only competitor of KKTC Turkcell and the local branch of Vodafone Turkey. They are not allowed to be called Vodafone for legal reasons as Vodafone has an own network in the southern part of the island too. But it's origin is pretty obvious looking at their branding.

Their data packages are valid on Vodafone network in Turkey too, but not on the Cyta-Vodafone network in the south of the island. Vodafone generally sells data cheaper than KKTC Turkcell and has still a reasonable network. Don't expect high speeds in the absence of 4G/LTE.

Like with its competitor, the rates used to be charged in units: 1 unit is 0.065 TL. SIM cards are available in Telsim Shops (list ) or in Telsim Silver Shops (list).

Availability

Their standard SIM is for 10 TL without any credit. Default data rate is 0.162 units per MB. Like in Turkey, they heavily advertise combo packages as base plans.

Data feature packs

They have one daily package of 1 GB at 10 TL that is sold as scratch card called Günlük Internet Paket. It's valid for 24 hours and you have to text the 'GUNLUK' <6-digit code from the card> to 8484. Check your balace by texting 'KALAN' ro 8484.

The following monthly data bundles are available and valid in Northern Cyprus and Turkey and some are only available through their app MyVodafone:

Time	Data	Price	Remark
1 day	1 GB	18
7 days	2 GB	35
	5 GB	46
30 days	3 GB	59	through app
	3 GB	68
	5 GB	75
	6 GB	69	through app
	10 GB	86
	12 GB	74	through app
	15 GB	97
	18 GB	84	through app
	20 GB	109
	24 GB	94	through app
	30 GB	136
	35 GB	118	through app

Packages must be purchased calling customer service on 548 (call for 8 units), in Telsim Shops or online on your account. Cheaper data packs shown in the table must be purchased through the MyVodafone app of the country.

All data packages are valid without roaming surcharges on the Vodafone network in Turkey too. To check consumption, text 'DURUM' to 2121 for free. For Facebook and Twitter use they offer a social bundle with 1 GB for these two apps and 20 MB general data valid for 30 days at 77 units = 5 TL. Activation by *8484#.

Tourist SIM

Telsim sells a special tourist SIM in the streets of Lefkosa and on the nothern coast in tourist places. It goes for 60 TL and includes 10 GB data, 50 international mins and 500 international SMS all valid for 1 week.

More info

• APN: internet
• Website in English: https://www.kktctelsim.com/en/