Ukrtelecom together with Iskratel, the Slovenian telecommunications company, and SID Bank, the Slovenian development bank, signed a new agreement on the development of fiber-optic Internet networks (GPON) in rural zone of Ukraine, Ukrtelecom said on Monday, Mach 23.
According to the company, the new project is designed for two years and includes more than 200 settlements in 13 regions of Ukraine. Total investments in the network construction project will amount to about UAH 200 million.
“The new project is the continuation of a long-term cooperation between Ukrtelecom and Iskratel in the development of high-speed optical access networks. Within its implementation, more than 2,000 kilometers of fiber-optic communication lines will be laid and modern switching equipment assembled in Slovenia at Iskratel production centers will be installed,” reads the statement.
According to Ukrtelecom, as a result of new network construction, hundreds of thousands people of the villages of Vinnytsia, Khmelnytsky, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhia, Odesa, Poltava, Mykolaiv, Sumy, Rivne, Kherson, Kharkiv, Cherkasy and Luhansk regions will get access to the Internet at speeds to 1 Gbps, to digital interactive television and other services of the company. This type of connection will allow communities to implement the full range of digital services.
The project includes settlements in most of which it was previously not possible to connect to wire Internet.
“Ukrtelecom as a national infrastructure telecoms operator of Ukraine has a unique opportunity to involve European financial and production partners in programs to bridge the digital divide in Ukraine,” Yuriy Kurmaz, the director of the company, said.
At this stage, the construction of the network is conducted according to the plan, namely work has begun in Kharkiv region.
The company said that the situation with the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic did not affect the planned work.
The international rating agency Standard&Poors has affirmed Ukraine’s long-term foreign and national currency ratings at “B” level, short-term “B” ratings and ratings on the national scale “uaA,” the outlook on them is “stable.”
“Despite the strengthening of fundamental factors, including an increase in foreign exchange reserves, a modest budget deficit and a reduction in public debt to GDP, Ukraine faces risks associated with a deterioration in the global economy and finances,” the agency said on Saturday night.
S&P added that the effects of recent government shifts on the dynamics of reforms in Ukraine and the country’s relationship with key lenders are currently unclear.
The Ukrainian Business Council has proposed that business activities are resumed from April 3, the introduction of additional measures should not be quitted and gradually cancel the restrictions imposed, the Council has said on its website. “We must save the economy. Business must work and pay taxes – everyone. We must support healthcare as a whole and doctors… Therefore, we propose to partially resume business activity from April 3, by no means introducing new measures and gradually canceling the current restrictions,” the Council said in the statement.
At the same time, the Ukrainian Business Council offers the following steps to stop the spread of the coronavirus disease COVID-19: extensive testing and isolation of infected people, enhanced control of infected people in self-isolation using electronic means, specific restrictions on public transport for risk groups – cancellation of benefits for risk groups, equipment of medical facilities and protection of doctors.
According to the Council, the state should move from banning the operation of a wide business segment to banning only certain segments, which involve large crowds.
“The introduction of a state of emergency at this time does not seem appropriate, it is enough to introduce a state of emergency in some regions,” the Ukrainian Business Council said.
“Representatives of the Ukrainian Business Council coalition, which includes 84 Ukrainian associations, urge the president, parliament and government to immediately consider the proposed measures, initiate a joint meeting and create a Crisis Response Center with the participation of experts from the Cabinet of Ministers, the Office of the President, the Verkhovna Rada, business and independent experts to discuss and work on the actions that will ensure effective response to the epidemic and do not harm the economy,” the Council said.
Britain’s oil and gas company Regal Petroleum Plc with assets in Ukraine has acquired the acquisition of Arkona Gas-Energy LLC, which holds the Svystunivsko-Chervonolutskyi exploration license in Poltava region for $8.63 million, the company has reported on the London Stock Exchange (LSE).
The acquisition was completed on Tuesday pursuant to an acquisition agreement made between the company and Igor Mychko, Oleksandr Neschchotnyy, Dmitro Volonets and Oleg Olkhovoy to acquire a 100% shareholding interest in Arkona.
A first tranche is $4.315 million (less certain adjustments for debt liabilities) paid on completion.
A second tranche is $2.158 million payable on satisfaction of certain conditions including the favourable resolution of a third party claim against Arkona relating to the licence, the absence of any contractual, warranty or indemnity claims, and the delivery of certain documentation by the sellers.
A third tranche is $2.158 million payable in 12 months from the date of payment of the second tranche, provided that if the conditions for payment of the second tranche are not satisfied, then neither the second tranche nor the third tranche shall become payable.
According to Geoinform Ukraine, the license of Arkona is in effect until May 18, 2037.
Regal said that the license is prospective for gas and condensate, and has been the subject of exploration since the 1980s, with five wells having been drilled on the license since then, although none of these wells are currently on production. According to the recorded information on the Ukrainian State Balance of Natural Resources as at January 1, 2020, the license has hydrocarbon reserves of approximately 38.0 MMboe (4.9 billion m3 of gas and 0.86 Mtonnes of condensate). Whilst the company has undertaken a detailed review of the available technical data relating to the license, which is considered supportive of such assessment of hydrocarbon reserves, it should be noted that such hydrocarbon reserves have not been verified by an independent reserves assessor, Regal said.
The company now intends to undertake development planning for the license, and envisages that this will include the commencement of a new well within the next 12 months, with drilling and completion operations expected to take up to a further 12 months.
Double liability company Interchem, a pharmaceutical company based in Odesa, has bought equipment for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing for the virus laboratory of the Odesa Regional Laboratory Center of the Health Ministry of Ukraine.
Interchem Director General Anatoliy Reder told Interfax-Ukraine that this equipment was the first system in the regional laboratory, which makes it possible to perform PCR testing of the COVID-19 infection.
“Until today, in Odesa region there was not a single device on which it was possible to perform such a PCR test. Odesa region was not able to perform such tests on its own, the virus laboratory of the state-owned institution Odesa Regional Laboratory Center of the Health Ministry of Ukraine was forced to act as a logistician: to collect biomaterial from the centers where it was taken, and then send it to Kyiv. Thus, the results were only on the fifth day. This is what we must avoid, as if we are forced to wait five days for a response from the laboratory, all other methods of fighting the virus are becoming meaningless,” he said.
Reder said that the system for PCR testing has already been installed and began to work.
In addition, Interchem purchased the first batch of tests for this system.
“We hope that the PCR tests, which are procured centrally, will also come to Odesa region. As world experience shows, those countries in which it was possible to achieve a high level of coverage of population with testing and diagnostics demonstrate the lowest results in mortality and the spread of infection,” Reder said.
He also said that the purchased PCR testing system will be in demand after the end of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Interchem is one of the leading pharmaceutical companies in the country.
The volume of retail sales of oil products decreased by 20% over the week, March 14-21, a fall against the background of quarantine measures may reach 40-50% in April, Director of A-95 Consulting Group (Kyiv) Serhiy Kuyun has said.
“Over the weekend, I talked with the top managers and owners of several large fuel station chains. Everyone reported a fall in sales by 15% from the middle of the week, and by 20% or more over the weekend compared to the previous Saturday,” he wrote on his Facebook page on Monday, March 23.
According to him, the largest decline in retail sales is 40% in the western regions, primarily in Zakarpattia and Chernivtsi. At the same time, sales fell by 90% at fuel stations located close to border points.
Kuyun also said that expectations are also the same, namely sales decrease by 40-50% in April. This is very optimistic, given that in Italy fuel stations lost 70-80%.
Predicting the situation with fuel supplies to the Ukrainian market, Kuyun said that there would be no shortage of resources.
According to him, purchase prices have the potential to decrease in April by UAH 3 per liter for petrol, by UAH 2.5 per liter for diesel fuel at a rate of UAH 30/$1, and by UAH 4.2 per liter and UAH 3.7 per liter, respectively, at a rate of UAH 28/$1. At the same time, in the absence of hryvnia devaluation, a fall in the world prices for oil and oil products would lead to a decrease in purchase prices by UAH 6 per liter for petrol and UAH 5.5 per liter for diesel fuel in April, the expert said.
Due to the fall in the volume of sales of oil products against the background of quarantine, the decrease in revenue in cafes and shops, as well as the increase in the cost of operating a fuel station, namely employees’ transportation, provision of protective equipment, and disinfection of premises, a decrease in purchase prices will not lead to a change in retail prices, Kuyun said.
