A Cypriot prepaid SIM is one of the best-value mobile products in Europe, and it is also a trap that no other EU country sets. Cyta will sell you 50 GB with calls and texts for ten euro a month and Epic has put 100 GB on a fifteen-day holiday pack for twenty. Those numbers make the international eSIM market look ridiculous. Then you take that same SIM through a Green Line checkpoint for an afternoon in Famagusta, it registers on a network that Cypriot tariffs classify as foreign, and the per-megabyte rate that applies there has been quoted at around 0.20 euro, which works out near 200 euro for a gigabyte you would not think twice about at home. This page covers what each operator charges in 2026, the identity registration law that now applies to every prepaid line on the island, and the specific circumstances where paying more for a travel eSIM is still the smarter purchase.
What This Guide Covers
Jump to the section most relevant to you
Four Operators in the South, Two More in the North
The Republic of Cyprus supports four mobile networks on a population under a million, which is a lot of competition for a small market and explains why the bundles are so large. Cytamobile-Vodafone is the mobile arm of Cyta, the state-founded incumbent, and has traded under a Vodafone partner-market agreement since 2004. It carries roughly 54 percent of the island's mobile connections. Epic is second on something near 35 percent, a network that has changed name twice, starting as Areeba, becoming MTN Cyprus, and finally rebranding after Monaco Telecom bought it in 2018. PrimeTel is the smaller independent, restructured since the London firm Signal Capital Partners took it over in July 2023, and notable for being the local operator readiest to sell an eSIM profile rather than a plastic card. Cablenet began as a virtual operator on borrowed radio capacity and has since built its own, competing on price rather than reach.
None of those four sell you anything usable in the northern part of the island. That territory runs on KKTCELL, a Turkcell subsidiary operating since 1999, and Telsim, which has sat in the Vodafone Group orbit since 2006. Both carry Turkey's +90 dialling prefix and both sit outside the EU roaming regulation, because EU law is treated as suspended in the areas the Republic does not effectively control. That is the single most important line on this page and it has nothing to do with politics and everything to do with your bill.
Why the bundles here are so enormous
Cyprus has well over 1.3 million active mobile lines against a resident population of under a million, because a large share of those lines belong to visitors, students and seasonal workers. Four operators chasing that market on an island 240 kilometres end to end have nowhere to compete except on price and volume, and the result is 100 GB monthly bundles at prices that would buy you two gigabytes in some neighbouring markets. It is a genuinely good deal. It is just a deal that stops at a line drawn in 1974.
Cytamobile-Vodafone and the soeasy Range
Cyta is the default answer for anyone who wants the largest footprint and the least thought. Independent crowdsourced coverage measurement puts it ahead of the field on combined 4G and 5G reach, and since 5G went nationwide in the Republic in mid-2023 the operator has been adding capacity rather than filling in gaps. In practice that means full-speed service along the coastal motorway spine from Paphos through Limassol to Larnaca and Ayia Napa, across the Nicosia plain, and up the main Troodos roads.
The prepaid range is branded soeasy and the monthly Combo bundles are where the value sits. soeasy Combo 10 gives 500 minutes, 500 texts and 50 GB for ten euro a month. soeasy Combo 15 doubles most of that to 1000 minutes, 1000 texts and 100 GB for fifteen. Smaller standalone data packs exist for anyone who genuinely will not use fifty gigabytes, though at these prices the arithmetic rarely favours going small.
Two things to check at the Cyta counter
First, ask whether the bundle you are buying auto-renews at the end of the month, because a renewal on an unused line is money quietly leaving your credit. Second, ask explicitly what the tariff charges for roaming in the northern part of the island, and write the number down. Cypriot prepaid tariffs have quoted up to 0.20 euro per megabyte for that, and knowing the figure before you set off for Kyrenia is what stops the day trip from becoming an anecdote.
Epic and the Holiday SIM
Epic is the challenger that behaves like an incumbent. Its coverage sits close enough behind Cyta that most visitors will never notice a difference between the two along the coast, and it has been aggressive on 5G in the tourist districts specifically, where the seasonal load is heaviest. For a holiday spent between Larnaca, Protaras and Cape Greco, Epic is every bit as good as the market leader.
What sets it apart for travellers is packaging. The Holiday SIM has been sold with 100 GB on fifteen days of validity for twenty euro, which is precisely the shape of a two-week Cyprus break and requires no thinking about renewal dates. Broader tourist packs across the market cluster around twenty to twenty-five euro for twenty to thirty gigabytes on fifteen to thirty days, so the Epic holiday product usually reads as the most generous of them.
Epic is also the network most often named by travel eSIM providers alongside Cyta, which matters if you want the same radio experience without the counter visit. Nomad pairs Cyta and Epic together on its Cyprus plan, which is the strongest combination published by any of the international providers.
Where Epic and Cyta actually diverge
Not on the coast, and not in Nicosia. The difference shows on the narrow roads between the painted Byzantine churches of the Marathasa and Solea valleys, on the dirt tracks running out toward Lara Bay and the Akamas, and in a handful of interior villages with a few hundred residents. If your Cyprus involves any of those, Cyta has the marginal edge. If it does not, buy on price and packaging.
PrimeTel and Cablenet: The Cheaper Half of the Market
PrimeTel is the fourth network and the one you are most likely to end up on without choosing it, because international eSIM providers lean on it: both Airalo and Holafly name PrimeTel among the operators carrying their Cyprus traffic. It is the only local operator that has consistently offered eSIM profiles to prepaid customers, which for a visitor with a modern handset is a real convenience, and its per-gigabyte pricing has been quoted around 1.33 euro on eSIM data bundles. The trade is 5G: PrimeTel came late to it and its build is still concentrated on the main urban centres, so outside Nicosia, Limassol and Larnaca you should expect 4G.
Cablenet is the budget option, an operator that started by leasing someone else's network and has since built out its own. Its plans are priced for residents rather than visitors, and it is worth knowing about mainly because you will see the brand in shopping centres and should not mistake it for a tourist product.
For a visitor the practical summary is short. Cyta or Epic if you want the best coverage and the biggest bundles. PrimeTel if you specifically want an eSIM from a local operator and will stay in the cities. Cablenet only if you are moving here.
What Your Cypriot SIM Does North of the Green Line
This is the section that justifies the page. The Green Line runs the width of the island and is crossed daily by visitors going to Famagusta, to Kyrenia, to the fenced quarter of Varosha, or simply through the Ledra Street checkpoint in Nicosia for lunch on the other side of the walled city. It takes minutes on foot and, for most nationalities, involves showing a passport and walking on. Nothing about the experience signals that you have changed mobile countries.
Your phone knows. It drops the Cypriot network, finds KKTCELL or Telsim, and starts billing you as a foreign roamer. EU roam-like-at-home does not apply because EU law is suspended in the areas outside the Republic's effective control. A Cypriot prepaid tariff has quoted up to 0.20 euro per megabyte for exactly this situation, which is roughly 200 euro per gigabyte, and a non-EU home plan applies whatever its rest-of-world rate happens to be. The warning you get is a text message, arriving among the other notifications, easy to swipe away while you are looking for the coach.
How to cross without paying for it
1. Before you leave the Republic, turn data roaming off on the SIM that carries your main number. Not aeroplane mode, just data roaming, so calls and texts still reach you.
2. Set network selection to manual and pin Cyta or Epic while you are still comfortably inside the south, which stops the handset drifting onto a northern tower on its own.
3. Download your offline map of the area you are visiting before the crossing, because you will not be able to load one on the far side without paying.
4. If you actually need data over there, buy something built for it: a local KKTCELL tourist pack, sold with passport registration in person and priced in Turkish lira, or a northern travel eSIM installed before you go.
5. Coming back, check that your phone has returned to a Cypriot network before you turn data roaming back on.
Nicosia can bill you without you crossing at all
The buffer zone through the capital narrows to a few hundred metres in places, and radio waves do not stop at sandbags. A handset set to automatic network selection can register on a northern tower while its owner is standing firmly in the Republic, somewhere in the lanes around Ledra Street or up on the Venetian walls. Nobody has crossed anything. The bill does not care. Manual network selection for the day you explore the old city is the entire fix.
The Prepaid Registration Law, and What It Means at the Counter
Cyprus used to be an easy place to buy a SIM anonymously. That ended with Law 63(I)/2024 on the identification of owners and users of prepaid SIM and eSIM services, which requires every prepaid mobile line on the island to be tied to a verified identity. The deadline for existing customers to comply was pushed back once by the House of Representatives, from 10 November to 10 December, and enforcement has been in place since.
What you need to bring
1. A passport, an EU national identity card, or a Cyprus residence permit. For most visitors that means the passport, and a driving licence will not substitute.
2. Time for the assistant to record the details and link the number to you before the line activates.
3. Patience if your ID is an older laminated card, because those cannot always be processed through the online identification route and require a shop visit.
4. Nothing else. There is no local address requirement for a visitor buying a tourist bundle.
The practical consequences are the ones you would expect. One person cannot buy four SIMs for a family, since each line registers to its own holder. A SIM handed to you second-hand by a previous guest at your rental is worse than useless. And the whole process, while not onerous, is the specific step that a travel eSIM removes: nobody scans a passport to sell you a digital profile.
Cypriot Prepaid Options Side by Side
| Operator | Representative package | Price | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cyta | soeasy Combo 10: 50 GB, 500 min, 500 SMS, 30 days | 10 EUR per month | The widest coverage and the most data per euro on the island |
| Cyta | soeasy Combo 15: 100 GB, 1000 min, 1000 SMS | 15 EUR per month | Long stays, remote workers, anyone tethering a laptop |
| Epic | Holiday SIM: 100 GB, 15 days | 20 EUR | A two-week holiday with no renewal date to remember |
| PrimeTel | Prepaid eSIM data bundles | Around 1.33 EUR per GB | Getting a local operator profile without a plastic card |
| Market average | Generic tourist pack, 20 to 30 GB | 20 to 25 EUR | Whatever the airport counter is pushing that week |
| Any of them, up north | Roaming across the Green Line | Up to 0.20 EUR per MB, near 200 EUR per GB | Nobody. Avoid this line entirely. |
| Travel eSIM | 20 GB, 30 days, Republic only | Roughly 19 USD | Short trips, no ID paperwork, keeping the main number dark |
Read that table honestly and the local operators win on raw value by a wide margin, exactly as they should in a market with four networks fighting over a small island. The last two rows are where the decision gets interesting rather than arithmetical.
Where to Buy a SIM in Cyprus
Larnaca International Airport. Kiosks for Cyta, Epic and PrimeTel sit in the arrivals hall past customs, close to baggage reclaim. Hours vary with the season and the flight schedule rather than running around the clock, which matters on a late charter arrival. The Larnaca Airport guide covers what is open when and how the counters compare with an eSIM.
Paphos International Airport. The island's second gateway and the one most package holidays to the west coast use, run by the same operator as Larnaca. It has a similar arrangement of carrier desks on a smaller scale. If your flight lands at Paphos rather than Larnaca, plan for fewer options and shorter hours.
High street shops. All four operators run branches in Nicosia, Limassol, Larnaca and Paphos, in the main shopping streets and the large malls. This is the calmer way to buy, with time to ask about roaming rates and bundle renewal, and no queue of arriving passengers behind you.
Topping up once you are on the island
Every operator has an app that takes a card, which is the simplest route for a visitor. Kiosks, supermarkets and petrol stations across the island sell top-up vouchers in fixed euro amounts, and the mini-markets along the Finikoudes seafront in Larnaca or the Ayia Napa strip will all have them. Keep the receipt from your original purchase, since the registered line is now attached to your identity and proving it occasionally saves an argument.
eSIM or Local Card for Cyprus?
This site earns money on eSIMs and is still going to tell you that for a month in Cyprus a Cyta line at ten euro is unbeatable. There is no version of the sums where an international provider matches 50 GB for ten euro. The interesting question is not which is cheaper, it is which risks apply to your particular trip.
Buy a local card when
Buy an eSIM when
One more consideration that catches EU visitors out in the opposite direction: if your home plan is Irish, German, Polish or otherwise European, you already roam at domestic rates across the Republic and you may not need to buy anything at all for the southern half. What you might still want is a cheap second profile to carry the northern day, so that the number your bank texts is not the one sitting on a foreign network. The Cyprus eSIM guide sets out which providers cover which side, and the eSIM Finder will size the plan once you have picked. For what happens to your signal once you are wandering the old town, see the Larnaca city guide.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which Cypriot operator gives a visitor the most for their money?
Cyta on coverage, Epic on packaging. Cyta's soeasy Combo 10 puts 50 GB with 500 minutes and 500 texts at ten euro a month and rides the widest measured 4G and 5G footprint in the Republic. Epic's Holiday SIM has offered 100 GB across fifteen days for twenty euro, which fits a fortnight's holiday with no renewal date to think about. PrimeTel is the one to pick only if you specifically want an eSIM profile from a local operator, and Cablenet is priced for residents rather than visitors.
Will the SIM I bought in Limassol work in Kyrenia?
It will connect, and that is the problem. North of the Green Line your handset registers on KKTCELL or Telsim, neither of which is inside the EU roaming framework, so your Cypriot line switches to foreign roaming rates. Prepaid tariffs in the Republic have quoted up to 0.20 euro per megabyte there, which is around 200 euro for a gigabyte. Turn data roaming off before you cross, download an offline map first, and if you actually need data over there buy something sold specifically for the northern networks.
Do I have to show ID now to buy a prepaid line here?
Yes. Law 63(I)/2024 requires every prepaid SIM and eSIM on the island to be identified against its owner, and the compliance deadline for existing customers was extended once from 10 November to 10 December before enforcement began. Bring a passport, an EU identity card or a Cyprus residence permit. A driving licence will not do. Each line registers to the person holding it, so one traveller cannot pick up cards for the whole group, and older laminated identity documents sometimes have to be processed in a shop rather than online.
Can I get charged for the north without going there?
In Nicosia, yes. The buffer zone through the capital is only a few hundred metres wide in places and mobile signal crosses it freely, so a phone left on automatic network selection can attach to a northern tower while you are still inside the Republic, wandering the lanes near Ledra Street or walking the Venetian walls. Setting network selection to manual and choosing Cyta or Epic for the day removes the risk completely, and it costs nothing.
How do I add credit once my bundle runs out?
The operator apps take a card and are the easiest route for a visitor who does not read Greek. Failing that, top-up vouchers in fixed euro amounts are sold in kiosks, supermarkets and petrol stations across the island, including the small shops along the Finikoudes seafront and the Ayia Napa strip. Since bundles here run to fifty or a hundred gigabytes, most short-stay visitors never touch a top-up at all, which is rather the point of buying local.