Cyprus coverage

What the Cyprus numbers mean

Two numbers matter and only one of them is the one every seller quotes. The typical speed, 66 Mbps, tells you what a good moment looks like.

The tenth percentile, 17 Mbps, is the one that matters. It is the speed in the worst tenth of the day, when the cell above the station is full and everybody around you is on it too. A country with a high median and a low floor is a country that works beautifully right up until the moment you actually need it.

If the trip depends on video calls or tethering, plan around the busy figure rather than the typical one.

What happens in Cyprus when the network is busy

Congestion is not a fault, it is a Tuesday evening. The question is what your eSIM can do about it, and for most travel eSIMs the answer is nothing: one wholesale agreement per country, one network, and no way out except buying a second eSIM from somebody else while standing in the street.

Here, Orbislo traffic runs over Cyta and Epic. When the network you are on degrades we move you to another one, mid trip, without you asking, and tell you afterwards rather than interrupting you at the time.

Mobile operators in Cyprus

• Cyta: Cyta held 52.1 percent of mobile users at the end of 2025 on the regulator's figures. It gained share among contract customers, and among prepaid users after identification of prepaid numbers became compulsory.
• Epic: Epic held 26.6 percent of mobile users at the end of 2025, down from 35 percent in mid 2021, and lost share among both contract and prepaid customers during 2025.
• Epic, coverage: Epic states 99.55 percent geographic coverage for 4G, which carries its calls on VoLTE phones, and 99.28 percent geographic and 99.75 percent population coverage for 2G, which serves every other phone for calls and texts.
• Primetel and Cablenet: Primetel and Cablenet each held 10.6 percent of mobile users at the end of 2025. Cablenet has grown fastest, from 2.3 percent in June 2021, and it gained further share among contract customers in 2025.
• Market size: The regulator counted 1,599,444 mobile users at the end of 2025, equal to 162.7 percent of the Republic's population, of whom 394,969 were prepaid. Contracts with unlimited data, calls and texts made up 61 percent of contract lines.

Older networks in Cyprus

• Epic began switching off its 3G network across Cyprus in February 2026, with completion planned for early summer 2026. Calls and texts then run over 4G on phones that support VoLTE, and older phones fall back to 2G for calls and texts only, with limited internet.
• Epic says its 3G network had in recent years carried only calls and texts, and that the freed spectrum goes to 4G and 5G. VoLTE has to be switched on in the phone's settings, and it costs nothing extra.

5G in Cyprus

• The European Commission reports that 100 percent of Cypriot households were covered by at least one 5G network in both 2024 and 2025, meeting the EU's 2030 target early. Coverage in the 3.4 to 3.8 GHz band jumped from 35 percent in 2024 to 87.5 percent in 2025.
• Readiness for standalone 5G varies between operators. One has confirmed a standalone network is in its immediate plans, while the others remain cautious, citing limited equipment and a lack of immediate use cases, according to the European Commission's 2026 country report.
• After its 2026 consultation the government settled on auctioning 2 GHz of the 26 GHz band, from 25.5 to 27.5 GHz, with at most 800 MHz per operator. Winners must build 20 base stations within five years and 60 within eight, delivering at least 500 Mbps.
• Pilot 26 GHz licences were granted in 2025 so operators could field test equipment, and the European Commission expects the 26 GHz auction to be concluded in the fourth quarter of 2026.
• The Department of Electronic Communications published the 26 GHz tender on 10 July 2026, inviting applications by 14 September 2026, with the rights to be awarded by auction.

Network notes for Cyprus

• Mobile data volume grew 24 percent in 2025 and peaked at 85,847 terabytes in the fourth quarter, driven by unlimited data contracts. Mobile still carried only about 15 percent of combined fixed and mobile traffic at the end of 2025.
• The BlueMed East submarine cable reached Cyprus on 31 October 2025 at Cyta's Yeroskipou landing station, linking the island to Greece, Italy, Western Europe and the Middle East. The Medusa cable is expected to land at the same station by the end of 2026.
• Cyta has agreed with Lebanon's telecoms ministry to build CADMOS 2, which will gradually replace the existing CADMOS cable between Cyprus and Lebanon. Its environmental study was completed in October 2025 and construction is due to start in 2026.