The interoperability of mobile phones across the island was established on Thursday as part of the confidence-building measures agreed by the two sides.
President Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci made the first mobile phone call across the divide around 12:45 pm.
Now, people living in the Turkish-occupied north and those living in Republic of Cyprus-controlled areas can use their mobile devices on either side for the first time.
To do this, users of Republic of Cyprus networks need to activate the roaming service on their phone before entering the occupied north.
Cyta advises its customers to deactivate the service upon returning to Republic of Cyprus-controlled areas to avoid higher charges.
People near the Green Line are advised to check that their phones are not connected automatically with phone networks of the other side as charges will be higher.
According to Phileleftheros, people who want to call from the Republic of Cyprus to the occupied north must dial phone code 0090-533 for Turkcell numbers and 0090-544 for Vodafone Tr (Telsim) before the number of the person they want to call. In the case they want to call a Greek Cypriot number in the occupied north they must use phone code 00357.
Calls to the north
Phone calls and texts to and from the occupied north will be more expensive than calling or messaging numbers inside the Republic of Cyprus or the EU.
Specifically, phone calls to the north will cost €0.29 per minute compared to €0.075 for calls in Republic of Cyprus-controlled areas.
Phileleftheros writes that a five-minute call from the end of Ledra street to French Guiana (French overseas department – considered EU land), 10,000 km away will cost €0.375, while a call to the Buyuk Han, just 100 metres away will cost €2.45, more than six times the price.
Calls from occupied north companies
Charges for calls from the north to Republic of Cyprus-controlled areas start from 4 TL (€0.62) per minute.
SMS – Data
The charge for a single SMS sent via Republic of Cyprus numbers is €0.035 and mobile data will cost €0.20 per MB.
Calls from abroadÂ
Phone calls from abroad to the north cost €0.85 per minute for Cyta customers and €1.07 for Epic customers.
Swiss company Comfone will handle the financial management and the clearing of charges and credit between mobile phone networks across the divide.
https://in-cyprus.com/anastasiades-akinci-make-first-phone-call-across-the-divide/
