The share of 4G Internet users in Ukraine by late 2019 would double, to 16%, Leading Expert for Designing Mobile Communications System at Ericsson Ukraine Volodymyr Yereschenko has said. “The number of 4G users relative to the share of all other technologies will increase approximately twice in a year,” he told Interfax-Ukraine in Kyiv on Thursday after the presentation of the June Ericsson Mobility Report.
The low rate of coverage of users of the 4G network Yereschenko explained, in particular, by limited coverage and the lack of a sufficient number of subscriber terminals.
“4G was started to be built only recently, about a year ago. They installed equipment in big cities. At the same time, there is no coverage in small cities, villages, on the highways – this is the first reason. The second is that not all subscriber terminals support 4G. Many terminals are connected to operators’ networks without 4G support, as well as some users still have not replaced old SIM cards with eSIM (with 4G support). As practice shows, the terminal is changed once in several years,” he said.
Industry Marketing Director at Ericsson Peter Jonsson also said that such low coverage of 4G users indicates a potential for further growth.
“8% is not enough, but it also means that there is potential. According to GSMA, by 2024 the percentage of 4G users can grow to 50%. As a rule, the further growth of the share depends on the cost of 4G subscriptions, availability of coverage and terminals as well as the profitability of the transition from 3G to 4G for operators,” Jonsson said.
In 2018, the share of 4G users in Ukraine was 8%, 3G was used by 52%, and another 35% were connected to 2G, Jonsson said.
