Newsroom
Approximately 600 telecommunications installers in Cyprus, responsible for tasks such as setting up telephone and internet lines, have been left without the necessary licenses to continue their work, despite having legally operated for years.
The situation primarily affects licensed electricians who previously received certification from CYTA after passing a written exam.
The responsibility for regulating the profession now falls under the Office of the Commissioner of Electronic Communications and Postal Regulation (OCECPR), which has introduced new certification regulations. These regulations require installers to pass new exams to maintain their licenses.
With a 75% passing threshold set for both the theoretical and practical portions of the exam, only 30% of the first group of 120-130 electricians, many with decades of experience, succeeded in passing.
Those who failed the exam are required to retake it and, until then, are not considered licensed. This has immediate consequences, as they cannot request complete installation connections from telecommunications providers, leaving their clients at risk.
The new regulations have sparked strong opposition from the Cyprus Licensed Electrical Contractors Association. President George Kyriakou criticized the high passing threshold, noting that it is significantly higher than the 50% required for other important exams in electrical safety and management.
Additionally, Kyriakou highlighted the hefty exam fee of €220, which must be paid again if an installer fails and needs to retake the test. He pointed out cases where members scored 74% but were denied certification, leading them to refuse to pay the fee for a retake.
Furthermore, certified installers are now required to pay an additional €80 every two years to undergo checks on their work volume, a charge that Kyriakou also labeled unacceptable.
The association has also expressed concerns over contradictions in the new regulations, noting that while the stated aim is to ensure a high level of competency among certified installers, other professionals like planners, who hold primary responsibility for installations, are not required to take any exams.
The situation reached a breaking point when a second group of installers, scheduled to take the exam, withdrew their participation and demanded refunds of the €220 fee, leading to the cancellation of the exam. As a result, hundreds of professionals in the field are now at a standstill, unsure of their future.
[Information sourced from Alithia Newspaper]
