Our goal is to achieve full coverage of Cyprus in very high-speed connectivity by 2026, said the Deputy Minister of Research, Innovation and Digital Policy, Nicodemos Damianou, during a press conference to present the agreement signed between the Deputy Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digital Policy and the Cyprus Telecommunications Authority (Cyta) for the expansion of very high capacity networks in underserved areas. The presentation took place on Tuesday in Nicosia. In his address, Damianou spoke of "a key initiative that is part of an integrated government plan and aims to cover the whole of Cyprus - including rural and remote areas - with high-speed fiber optic networks, thus ensuring equal access and the possibility of active participation of all citizens without exception in the digital economy". "With the completion of the large-scale project that we are announcing today, which is expected in early 2026, we aim for Cyprus to become the first country to have achieved 100% population coverage acr oss the spectrum of ultra-high-speed connectivity, mobile and stable", added the Deputy Minister. At the same time, he noted that the Deputy Ministry is subsidizing new subscriptions and high-speed upgrades, investing a total of pound 10 million and covering 82,000 households. As the Government, Damianou said, "we have announced an ambitious plan to substantially upgrade the state's digital infrastructure and the services we activate for citizens, professionals and businesses". He also indicated that "for this to be more important, everyone should be able to use them equally". "As a State, we are determined to make every necessary effort to support, facilitate and also encourage the activities of all telecommunication operators", emphasised the Deputy Minister of Research. On his part, Andreas Neocleous, Chief Executive Officer of Cyta, stated that "it is our duty to make investments that improve the economic situation of the state but also the entire society", adding that the development of rural areas is a big bet especially for the European countries that have a big problem of urbanisation. "With the installation of an optical fiber network we can contribute to the increase of the permanent population of rural areas", he added, speaking of a "long-term investment". Subsequently, Neocleous expressed the desire to complete the project by the end of 2025, i.e. ahead of schedule. At the same time, he called on the Deputy Ministry of Research and the Office of the Commissioner for the Electronic Communications and Postal Regulation (OCECPR) to help Cyta in the next steps so that Cyprus becomes a leader in the field of electronic communications. Andronikos Kakkouras, officer of the Department of Electronic Communications of the Deputy Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digital Policy, referring to the goals set by the European Union until 2030 at the digital level, noted the coverage of all European households by a very high capacity network (Gigabit) and the coverage of high-speed mobile networks (5G) for all . He added that, regarding the first goal, in 2022 Cyprus achieved 60% coverage and the EU achieved 73% coverage. Regarding the second goal, he said that Cyprus achieved 100% coverage while the EU achieved 81%. Speaking about the Cyprus Recovery and Resilience Plan investments in connectivity, Kakkouras mentioned the development of networks in rural areas, amounting to pound 35 million, and the Connectivity Grant Scheme, amounting to pound 10 million. George Malikides, Cyta's Senior Director of Technology and Informatics, stated that the deployment of very high capacity networks in underserved areas concerns 10% of the population, 45,000 properties, 230 socio-economic entities and 284 communities. He added that by 2025 Cyta will have invested pound 131 million to achieve 90% Cyta Fiber network coverage. Source: Cyprus News Agency