Mobile network operator Kyivstar has increased its 4G (LTE) network coverage in 19 regions and connected 1,195 more settlements to new mobile technologies.
According to a Wednesday report of the press service of the company, for this the operator has launched the technology of high-speed data transmission at 202 base stations.
The press service said that 493,000 residents of small settlements received the opportunity of having access to high-speed mobile Internet.
The 4G communication is supported by 23,600 Kyivstar base stations, which makes it possible for more than 87% of the Ukrainian population to access new mobile technologies.
According to the operator’s plans, by 2022, access to 4G should be provided for 90% of the population.
Mobile network operator Kyivstar has increased its 4G coverage in Zaporizhia and Kherson regions; the high-speed mobile coverage area includes 155 more settlements, where 76,000 people live.
The press service of the operator said on Monday that in particular, in Zaporizhia region, the territory of access to 4G Internet expanded by 42 settlements, in Kherson – by 113.
Kyivstar began to provide high-speed mobile Internet services at 900 MHz in the villages of Andriyivka, Davydivka, Mykolayivka, Mostove, Novoprokopivka, Rozivka, and Semenivka (Zaporizhia region), Brylivka, Vysoke, Davydiv Brid, Dolmativka, Kostohryzove, Mykhailivka, Novodmytrivka, Rozdolne, Sirohozy, Stara Mayachka, and Tiahynka (Kherson region).
In order to improve 4G coverage in these settlements, 27 base stations in the LTE 900 band have been installed.
Currently, the total number of mobile base stations of the company exceeds 38,000.
According to the company, Kyivstar has already provided access to 4G for almost 85% of the Ukrainian population. In the first nine months of 2020, more than UAH 4 billion has been invested in the development of new mobile communication technologies.
In October 2020, mobile operators connected 2,497 settlements to 4G communication, providing 320,000 Ukrainians with high-speed mobile Internet, the Ministry of Digital Transformation said on its Facebook page on Monday.
“With the support of the Ministry of Digital Development, mobile operators provide access to 4G for residents of rural areas and remote regions of the country. Over the past month, almost 2,500 settlements have been connected to 4G, and more than 300,000 Ukrainians have been able to use high-speed Internet in their cell phone for the first time,” the press service of the ministry quoted Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov as saying.
According to the minister, the project of providing high-speed Internet to Ukrainians is a priority for the state. “Thanks to the launch of the provision of 4G mobile services in the 900 MHz range, we have doubled the coverage of high-speed mobile Internet,” he clarifies.
According to the ministry, over the entire period of the project, from July to October 2020, more than 4.7 million Ukrainians received 4G (7,700 settlements). At the same time, more than 1.5 million Ukrainians received 4G for the first time (3,800 settlements). In general, 20,506 cities and villages have 4G in the country.
“It remains to connect another 7,300 settlements. These are small villages, where residents often do not have any access to high-speed Internet. By the end of the year, 4G will become available to residents of Cherkasy, Dnipropetrovsk, Kherson, Kharkiv, Zaporizhia, Donetsk, Luhansk regions,” the ministry said.
The mobile operators Kyivstar, Vodafone Ukraine and lifecell, together with Huawei, have launched 4G at 23 more stations of Kyiv metro and in the tunnels between them.
According to the joint press release of the operators, in general, since October 28, the high-speed mobile Internet of three operators has been operating at 45 out of 46 underground stations.
4G will appear at the last Teremky station during December.
The launch of the 4G network in the metro began in March this year from the Akademmistechko station and continued gradually.
“It is interesting that almost 300,000 subscribers of all three operators use 4G Internet every day on average. Together, subscribers of mobile operators have already used more than 400 terabytes of traffic in the metro. This volume would be enough, for example, for a continuous viewing high quality video for 30 years,” the release notes.
For 4G operation in the metro Kyivstar, Vodafone Ukraine and lifecell use joint equipment from Huawei, but their own frequencies in accordance with licenses. Frequencies are used in two bands: 1800 MHz and 2600 MHz. According to the operators, the average 4G speed in the metro exceeds 40 Mbps.
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The mobile operator Kyivstar launched 4G in 182 villages of Sumy region, in particular, in such villages as Anastasivka, Boromsia, Voloshnivka, Vorozhba, Lytvynovychi, Mala Pavlivka, Mezenivka, Pisky, Krasne, Yunakivka and others.
“More than 46,000 rural residents of the region were able to use mobile Internet of Kyivstar network at high speeds up to 100 Mbps. For this, Kyivstar has equipped 27 base stations with modern technological means of radio communications of the LTE standard,” the company’s press service said on Monday, October 26.
Kyivstar notes that during the entire development of LTE technology in Ukraine, the operator has provided access to high-speed mobile Internet for 84% of the population.
Kyivstar, the largest mobile communications operator in Ukraine, in a year after receiving the 4G license has built LTE network covering 4,587 localities where 58% of the Ukrainian population, the company reported on Wednesday. “Now Kyivstar has more than 24,700 towers. They provide 3G connection for 81% of the population and 4G connection for 58%,” the company said in a press release.
According to Kyivstar, the development of 3G and 4G communications in Ukraine cost Kyivstar UAH 22.5 billion in 2015-2018, of which UAH 7 billion was paid for licenses for new communication technologies, UAH 3.5 billion for using frequencies, and UAH 12 billion was invested in the construction of communication networks.
“In 2019, we intend to increase investment in the development of 4G, so that as many Ukrainians as possible get access to new communication technologies,” the press service said, citing Kyivstar President Alexander Komarov without specifying other details.
The company said that the rapid expansion of the 3G and 4G network made it possible to boost the volume of Internet traffic: over the year, data traffic grew by 300%. According to the press release, in March 2019, 46 petabytes were used in the Kyivstar network (of which 43% in the 4G network) – the same as in the entire 2016.
According to the company, in a 4G network, a subscriber uses an average of 5.6 GB of mobile Internet per month, while in a 3G network – 3.8 GB, and 70% of business clients in a 4G network upload data to cloud storage.
Kyivstar said that subscribers use 4G in locations where fixed-line Internet is not available or its speed is low. For example, in a number of villages in Kherson region, the average usage of 4G per subscriber is 75 GB per month, in Lviv region – 56 GB, and in Zaporizhia region – 50 GB. For comparison: in large cities, the average consumption of data traffic in a 4G network: Uzhgorod – 12 GB per subscriber; Kherson – 10.59 GB, Dnipro – 6.64 GB, Kyiv – 6.25 GB, and Odesa – 6.19 GB.
