Revenue of Ukraine’s largest mobile operator Kyivstar in April-June this year increased by 9.5% compared to April-June 2023 to UAH 9.425 billion, and in dollars by 0.4% to $236 million, the company’s parent company VEON said in a report on Thursday.
“EBITDA increased by 9.8% yoy in local currency (+0.8% yoy in dollars) despite continued pressure from operating expenses in the second quarter of 2024, including electricity and fuel costs, as well as continued charitable donations in addition to employee support programs,” VEON said.
It is specified that EBITDA amounted to UAH 5.585 billion or $140 million. Compared to the first quarter of this year, when Kyivstar’s financial performance was significantly affected by the customer compensation program following a large-scale cyberattack in December 2023, revenue in hryvnia increased by 31.5% and EBITDA by 54%, while in dollars, the growth of these indicators was 26.1% and 47.9%, respectively.
According to the report, operating profit (EBIT) in April-June this year amounted to UAH 4.16 billion, which is 10.5% better than in April-June 2023 and almost twice as much as in January-March 2024.
In the second quarter, Kyivstar’s total operating income from mobile services increased by 8.7% to UAH 8.77 billion, including 10.8% from data transmission to UAH 5.18 billion, while income from fixed-line services increased by 16.4% to UAH 0.56 billion.
It is noted that the increase in profitability was achieved mainly due to the growth of mobile data revenues, supported by the careful implementation of cost control measures.
Kyivstar’s 4G customer base grew by 7.9% year-on-year to 14.1 million, and data usage per user increased by 11.1% to 11.3 GB per month, while voice traffic decreased by 4.5% to 540 minutes.
In general, the number of Kyivstar mobile subscribers in the second quarter of 2024 decreased by 2.9% compared to the same period in 2023 to 23.4 million, while ARPU (average monthly revenue from fixed-line voice services per subscriber) increased by 11.5% to UAH 122.9.
“Kyivstar explains the decline in its total mobile subscriber base by the number of Ukrainians living outside Ukraine.
“During 2024, Kyivstar recovered from the cyberattack in December 2023, with the subscriber base returning to pre-attack levels thanks to the successful implementation of a special customer retention program,” the report says.
It is also noted that the operator maintained access to key services, including digital healthcare, information and entertainment services, resulting in the number of Kyivstar’s multi-user subscribers increasing by 53.0% year-on-year, and revenues from multi-user services growing by 58.9%.
In particular, it is noted that Helsi, the country’s largest digital healthcare platform, continues to develop digital medicine in Ukraine: about 28 million registered patients (+11.1% compared to last year) have access to 1.6 thousand existing medical facilities and more than 38 thousand specialists active on the platform (+12.5% compared to last year).
It is specified that the number of downloads of the Helsi mobile application reached 8.2 million at the end of the quarter, which allowed customers to book 2.3 million appointments through the platform during the reporting period (+27.7% compared to the same period last year).
According to the report, Kyivstar TV streaming service ended the quarter with a 51.7% increase in monthly active users (MAUs) compared to the same period last year.
Kyivstar emphasized that thanks to the company’s efforts, almost 100% of its telecom network in the government-controlled area is operating normally, providing subscribers with communication and data services around the clock.
In Q2 2024, VEON generated revenues of $1.03 billion, up 12.1% year-on-year, with service revenue accounting for $987 million, up 11.3% year-on-year.
The telecom holding’s EBITDA increased by 10.6% year-on-year to $0.46 billion.
VEON’s revenue in national currencies increased by 15.1% and EBITDA by 13.9%. In addition to Ukraine, six other VEON subsidiaries showed revenue growth in Pakistan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
VEON’s subscriber base increased by 1% to 157.4 million in the second quarter. The number of 4G users reached 98.4 million (up 11.2%). The share of 4G users in the total subscriber base increased by 5.7 percentage points to 62.5%.
The group’s CAPEX increased by 5.8% to $181.4 million. The balance of cash and cash equivalents amounted to $722 million compared to $632 million as of March 2024. At the same time, the amount of funds decreased by 70% year-on-year.
VEON’s net debt increased by 17.6% to $3.2 billion in the second quarter.
VEON has maintained its forecast for the whole of 2024 for revenue growth in local currencies by 16-18% and EBITDA growth in local currencies by 18-20%.
