Electricity, communications, water and heat supply have been almost completely restored in the Ukrainian capital as of Sunday morning, the press service of the Kiev city military administration said.
“Repair work on the power grid system is in its final stages. As of this morning, most residents of the city are not only with light, but also without emergency and even stabilization shutdowns,” the report said.
It specifies that all this is due to “restored, stable power supply and low power consumption by subscribers.”
“On the scale of the capital water supply, heat supply, communications – everything is working in a normal mode. Only local emergency situations are likely,” the administration concluded.
Mobile operators and Ukrtelecom agree to provide communication to Ukrainians, even if there are no funds on their accounts.
“We are doing everything possible to keep everyone in touch even with a zero balance,” the press service of Vodafone Ukraine said in a commentary to Interfax-Ukraine.
Ukrtelecom reported that the decision not to disconnect subscribers for non-payment, as well as subscribers with a zero balance from the provision of services, was made by the operator this morning.
“Now we have more than 50,000 Internet service clients in dynamics, who could be affected by disconnection for non-payment. But we decided not to disconnect our subscribers,” Mykhailo Shuranov, director of corporate communications at Ukrtelecom, told the agency.
The lifecell press service also stated that they are ready to support their subscribers.
“In order for our subscribers to be able to contact their relatives and friends at any time, lifecell charges all its users a package of services at no additional charge. It contains 30 minutes for calls to any number in Ukraine and 5 GB of mobile internet. It can be used for 30 days,” the operator’s press service told the agency.
Therefore, the priority of lifecell is the continuity in the provision of mobile services.
As of 13:35 Thursday, the operator’s mobile network is operating normally. However, the operator warns that in conditions where millions of people simultaneously make calls, from time to time the connection may not occur the first time.
Kyivstar reported that calls in the operator’s network will be available to all subscribers of the subscription even without a paid package of services according to their tariff.
Kyivstar also abolishes the commission within the Extra Money service, thanks to which you can order additional funds to your account and return them later.
For subscribers of contract and corporate forms of service: the operator doubles the credit limits in their tariffs for up to two months. Subscribers who do not have the service of credit limits connected can order microcredit. For users of fixed services (Internet, telephony and data transmission), Kyivstar extends the bill payment term by 30 days.
In addition, Kyivstar will provide the Home Internet service free of charge: all customers whose service was disabled due to lack of funds on their account can use it again.
As previously reported, the National Center for Operational and Technical Management of Telecommunications Networks of the State Service for Special Communications addressed operators with a recommendation not to disconnect from mobile communications and access to the Internet subscribers who do not have enough funds on their account or have a debt.
Net revenue of JSC Kyivstar in 2018 totaled UAH 18.719 billion, which is 13.2% more than in 2017. According to a report of the VEON parent company, revenue of the operator from providing mobile communications services grew by 13.6%, to UAH 17.412 billion, and from the provision of fixed-line communication services – by 6.5%, to UAH 1.206 billion. In addition, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) last year rose by 14.2%, to UAH 10.529 billion, and EBITDA margin – by 0.5 percentage points (p.p.), to 56.2%.
Kyivstar’s capital expenditure in 2018 (not including the cost of licenses) increased 18.4%, to UAH 3.1 billion. The number of mobile operator’s subscribers in the fourth quarter of 2018 decreased 0.5% compared with the fourth quarter of 2017, to 26.4 million, while the number of fixed-line subscribers increased 11%, to 0.9 million.
In the fourth quarter of 2018, the operator’s income increased 16.6%, to UAH 5.009 billion. Of these, UAH 4.671 billion was revenue from mobile services (a rise of 17.2%), and UAH 311 million – income from fixed-line services (a rise of 9.1%). EBITDA over this period increased 12%, to UAH 2.793 billion, EBITDA margin decreased 2.3 p.p., to 55.8%. Capital investment in the fourth quarter of 2018 amounted to UAH 749 million, which is 40.4% more than in the same period of 2017. According to the operator, mainly the funds were sent to the development of the 4G network, improving the quality of services.
In the last quarter of last year, the ARPU (average income per subscriber) grew by 18.2%, to UAH 58, while MoU (minutes per user) decreased 1%, to 584 minutes.
According to the Kyivstar’s press release, in the fourth quarter of 2018 the number of mobile Internet users increased 18.2% compared with the same period in 2017, to 14.8 million, the consumption of data traffic increased by 152.4%, to 2.753 GB per subscriber. “The 2.5-fold increase in the consumption of data traffic, the increase in the number of mobile Internet users influenced the ARPU indicator: in the fourth quarter, this figure increased 18.2%, to UAH 58,” the company said.
In addition, Kyivstar also reminded that in recent years, the need for subscribers to use several SIM cards at the same time has been decreasing in the mobile market of Ukraine. Last year, the operator transferred taxes and other payments totaling UAH 10.5 billion to the national budget, including more than UAH 4 billion for licenses to develop new communication technologies in the country.
Kyivstar is a Ukrainian mobile communications operator. VEON international group (earlier VimpelCom) is the shareholder in Kyivstar. The group’s shares are listed on NASDAQ (New York).
The National Commission for Communications and Informatization Regulation (NCCR) has permitted free imports and turnover of 15 types of radio electronic equipment, including PCs, audio systems, mobile phones, personal electric transport and other things if they meet the requirements of the technical regulation for radio electronic equipment approved on May 24, 2017. “This decision minimizes the burden on producers thanks to a clear definition of the types of radio electronic equipment that does not need to be registered and that is considered to have a high level of compliance with the essential requirements of the radio electronic equipment technical regulations. However, this does not exempt producers, importers and other economic entities in the radio equipment supply chain in Ukraine from performing their responsibilities to provide high-quality products,” the commission said on its website.
The list of goods allowed for import into Ukraine and not requiring entering the Register of radio electronic equipment and radiating equipment includes: e-books, laptops, tablets, interactive whiteboards and accessories, desktop computers, servers; smartphones, GPS-navigators, wristwatches, smart watches, wrist GPS trackers, fitness bracelets, wireless headphones, loudspeakers, stereo headphones, active speakers, multimedia speakers, voice recorders, audio systems, home theaters, music centers, mini and micro-audio systems, car audio systems, radio receivers, home theaters with a wireless adapter, a radio module, self-balance scooters, self-balancing personal transporters, a self-balancing unicycle with a wireless adapter, radio module, and other devices.
The use of these devices in the public radio frequency bands and free flow on the territory of Ukraine is carried out in the presence of a declaration of compliance with the requirements of the radio electronic equipment technical regulations approved by Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine resolution No. 355 dated May 24, 2017.
The NCCR, at the request of Ukraine’s State Center for Radio Frequencies (UCRF), also entered information on outdoor base stations, wireless access points, Internet gateways and other similar equipment that is used for the installation of outdoor radio and radio equipment used for organization of the provision of telecommunication services with a working frequency range of 2400-2483.5 MHz and an output power of the transmitter of more than 101 mW (20.04 dBm) into the list of radio-electronic equipment prohibited for use and importation into Ukraine.
