Epic LTD (previously operating as MTN Cyprus), is a Cyprus based telecommunications services provider owned by

Monaco Telecom Monaco Telecom is the main telecommunications provider in the Principality of Monaco. The company was founded in 1997 following a decision by the government of Monaco to privatize the state-owned Office Monégasque des Téléphones. Internat ...

. It is the second largest mobile network operator in Cyprus by number of subscribers, behind

CYTA CYTA Ltd. (; short for "Cyprus Telecommunication Authority"; gr, Αρχή Τηλεπικοινωνιών Κύπρου (ΑΤΗΚ), ''Archí Tilelikoinonión Kýprou (ATIK)'' ) is a telecommunication provider in Cyprus. The Cyprus Telecommunicat ...

. In addition to its already established mobile network, the company is a provider of fixed telephony, broadband services and TV. Following its rebranding from MTN to Epic its slogan has been "Great network. Great value".

History

Operating as Areeba (2004–2007)

The company commenced its operations in Cyprus in July 2004 as Areeba (''stylised'' ''as'' areeba) after being granted the second mobile telephony licence by the Cyprus Government. In December 2004, Areeba introduced the first 3G network in Cyprus.

Ownership by the MTN Group (2007–2018)

In September 2007 Areeba was rebranded to MTN after its parent company ( Investcom LLC) was acquired by the multinational telecommunications company

MTN Group MTN Group Limited, formerly M-Cell, is a South African multinational mobile telecommunications company, operating in many African and Asian countries. Its head office is in Johannesburg. , MTN recorded 280 million subscribers, making it the ...

. In March 2008, MTN upgraded its 3G network to support HSPA (marketed as 3.5G). In October 2008, the MTN Group and Amaracos Holdings entered into a partnership with Amaracos acquiring 49% of MTN Cyprus' stock. In turn, MTN Cyprus acquired 100% of Infotel Ltd ( Germanos chain of stores) as well as Otenet (Cyprus) Ltd, a fixed telephony and internet provider, thus entering both the fixed telephony and internet service markets respectively for the first time. In February 2013, the MTN Group reached an agreement with Amaracos Holdings to acquire the latter's share capital in MTN Cyprus, resulting in the MTN Group now possessing 100% of the shares in MTN Cyprus. In March 2015, MTN launched its 4G/LTE network, being the first alongside PrimeTel to introduce the first 4G networks in Cyprus. In May 2017, MTN expanded its services to include subscription based TV by launching MTN TV.

Ownership by Monaco Telecom (2018–Present)

In September 2018, it was announced that

(operating in the principality of Monaco and a member of NJJ Holding) had acquired the entire share capital of MTN Cyprus from the MTN Group for €260 million. As a part of the deal Monaco Telecom was allowed to continue using the MTN brand name for three years in exchange for a commercial fee. In November 2018, MTN upgraded its 4G network to support

LTE-A LTE Advanced (LTE+) is a mobile communication standard and a major enhancement of the Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard. It was formally submitted as a candidate 4G to ITU-T in late 2009 as meeting the requirements of the IMT-Advanced standard ...

(marketed as 4.5G). In May 2019, MTN announced the deployment of

wideband audio Wideband audio, also known as wideband voice or HD voice, is high definition voice quality for telephony audio, contrasted with standard digital telephony "toll quality". It extends the frequency range of audio signals transmitted over telephone ...

for voice calls between its subscribers (also known and marketed as

HD voice Wideband audio, also known as wideband voice or HD voice, is high definition voice quality for telephony audio, contrasted with standard digital telephony "toll quality". It extends the frequency range of audio signals transmitted over telephone ...

). In June 2019, Monaco Telecom retired the MTN brand name and renamed the company as Epic (''stylised'' ''as'' epic). In December 2020 Epic deployed

VoLTE Voice over LTE (VoLTE) is an LTE high-speed wireless communication standard for mobile phones and data terminals, including Internet of things (IoT) devices and wearables. VoLTE has up to three times more voice and data capacity than older 3G U ...

on its 4G network, becoming the first mobile network in Cyprus to do so. In the same month Epic participated in the Cyprus Government's 5G licence auction, winning a licence enabling it to build and operate a 5G network. On 9 July 2021 Epic officially launched its 5G network.

Marketshare

According to statistics released by the Office of Electronic Communications & Postal Regulations (OCECPR), as of March 2021, Epic is the second largest mobile network operator in Cyprus, after

(which has a market share of 54.50%), controlling 33.80% of the market.

Awards

Epic's mobile network has won the following awards:

Mobile Network Frequencies

{, class="wikitable sortable" , +Frequencies Used on the Epic (Cyprus) Network !Frequency (MHz) !Protocol !Class , - , 900 ,

GSM-900 GSM frequency bands or frequency ranges are the cellular frequencies designated by the ITU for the operation of GSM mobile phones and other mobile devices. Frequency bands GSM frequency usage around the world A dual-band 900/1800 device i ...

, 2G , - , 1800 ,

GPRS General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) is a packet oriented mobile data standard on the 2G and 3G cellular communication network's global system for mobile communications (GSM). GPRS was established by European Telecommunications Standards Ins ...

EDGE Edge or EDGE may refer to: Technology Computing * Edge computing, a network load-balancing system * Edge device, an entry point to a computer network * Adobe Edge, a graphical development application * Microsoft Edge, a web browser developed by ...

, 2G , - , 900 ,

UMTS The Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is a third generation mobile cellular system for networks based on the GSM standard. Developed and maintained by the 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project), UMTS is a component of the Int ...

HSPA+ Evolved High Speed Packet Access, HSPA+, HSPA (Plus) or HSPAP, is a technical standard for wireless broadband telecommunication. It is the second phase of HSPA which has been introduced in 3GPP release 7 and being further improved in later 3GPP ...

, 3G , - , 2100 ,

, 3G , - , 800 , LTE/

, 4G/ 4G+ , - , 1800 , LTE/

, 4G/ 4G+ , - , 2600 , LTE/

, 4G/ 4G+ , - , 700 ,

5G NR 5G NR (New Radio) is a new radio access technology (RAT) developed by 3GPP for the 5G (fifth generation) mobile network. It was designed to be the global standard for the air interface of 5G networks. As with 4G (LTE), it is based on OFDM. The ...

, 5G , - , 3600 ,

, 5G

References

Telecommunications companies of Cyprus