In 2023, Vodafone Ukraine showcased resilience and positive momentum across all key operational and financial indicators. Despite the impact of the ongoing war, the company not only preserved but also increased its investments in the development and support of Ukraine’s telecommunications infrastructure. Compared to the previous year, Vodafone’s investments surged by an impressive 58%, reflecting a commitment to enhancing business efficiency.
Financial and Operational Highlights
Revenue Growth: Vodafone’s revenue grew by 9% to reach UAH 21.6 billion in 2023. Key drivers included a focus on expanding fixed-line services, increased data usage, and growth in both mobile and fixed-line service revenues.
OIBDA Increase: The company achieved a 13% increase in OIBDA, which reached UAH 12.7 billion. The OIBDA margin also improved to 58.7%, representing a 1.8 percentage point increase.
Net Profit Surge: Vodafone’s net profit soared to UAH billion, a remarkable fivefold growth compared to 2022. Factors contributing to this substantial increase included currency stabilization (due to NBU’s managed exchange rate regime), reduced losses and impairment related to assets located on non-controlled territories, partner discounts, and overall business efficiency gains.
Investment Milestone: The generated profit allowed Vodafone to reinvest in network coverage and maintain network stability. Notably, the company achieved record-breaking investment levels, surpassing even pre-war figures from 2021.
Vodafone’s commitment to Ukraine’s telecommunications infrastructure underscores its resilience and determination to thrive despite challenging circumstances.
Investments
In 2023, Vodafone’s investment in Ukraine’s infrastructure amounted to UAH 5.7 billion. Throughout the two years of full-scale war, Vodafone invested a total of UAH 9.3 billion in the country.
Despite continuous network damage and the need for equipment restoration, the operator continued to expand. During the active phase of the war, Vodafone successfully brought 5,500 base stations online, enhancing coverage and network capacity. Over these two years, data traffic increased by 1.5 times. On average, a Vodafone data customer uses approximately 9 GB of mobile internet per month. This surge in usage contributed to an increase in the ARPU, reaching UAH 107.2 per month in 2023.
Expanding the network by 40% allowed Vodafone customers across Ukraine to consume more content while maintaining high-quality mobile internet. In the third and fourth quarters of 2023, Vodafone emerged as the leader in mobile internet speed in Ukraine, as confirmed by user tests using Ookla’s Speedtest®.
Subscriber Base
Systematic investments in network development and restoration, coupled with attractive tariff initiatives, positively impacted the subscriber base. In 2023, Vodafone managed to increase its customer count. As of the end of the year, 15.9 million people in Ukraine use Vodafone services, representing a 3.2% growth compared to 2022.
Additionally, more than 2 million Vodafone customers remain abroad and continue to use Vodafone services with Ukrainian tariffs. Since the onset of the full-scale invasion, Vodafone has supported Ukrainians seeking refuge in European countries. Most tariffs include free access to the “Affordable Roaming” service in 30 countries. This service provides 10 GB of mobile internet and 100 minutes for calls to Ukrainian and destination-country subscribers, subject to payment of the Ukrainian service package.
Fixed Internet
Vodafone Ukraine has made significant strides in its fixed business segment. In 2023, Vodafone continued its development of fixed business by increasing investments in the expansion of new fibre optic lines based on Vega, a company within the Vodafone Ukraine group. Additionally, Vodafone acquired a new asset, purchasing 90.6% shares of LLC “Freenet”.
During the past year, the company actively expanded its coverage in the cities of its presence and started the construction of the GPON network in Mykolaiv and Ivano-Frankivsk. In 2023, a network was built in 3,125 apartment buildings with the possibility of access to high-speed Internet for 411,426 households.
In total, access to the Vodafone Gigabit Net service is already available in more than 6,000 homes in Ukraine.
Vodafone tripled its fixed internet user base using GPON technology, which has proven to be the most reliable and energy-independent access technology for home and office internet. Thanks to the development of its own network and the acquisition of a new provider, Vodafone has now entered the top 5 fixed internet providers in terms of user count.
Vodafone Retail
Retail revenue increased by 16%, reaching UAH 773 million in 2023, contributing to 3.6% of the entire Vodafone Ukraine group’s revenue. Vodafone Retail improved the efficiency of its retail points, nearly doubling the number of available brands in Vodafone stores. The company received industry recognition, winning the “Retailer of the Year in the Portable Electronics Segment” award from the Association of Retailers of Ukraine (RAU), as chosen by Ukrainian consumers. Throughout the year, Vodafone opened 5 new stores, bringing the total number of retail outlets to 430: 92 company-owned stores and 338 dealer stores.
Vodafone’s Commitment to Ukraine
Vodafone Ukraine has made substantial investments in supporting the country and its citizens. Since the onset of the full-scale invasion, Vodafone has been dedicated to ensuring millions of citizens remain connected with their loved ones and have access to information during these challenging times, regardless of their mobile account status.
Vodafone has launched a series of social and charitable initiatives, including humanitarian and Financial Assistance:
• Providing direct financial aid and humanitarian support.
• Procuring emergency vehicles and medical equipment.
• Initiating the “League of Warmth” charity challenge, aimed at insulating maternity hospitals.
• Supporting children who have lost parents due to the war.
In total, Vodafone’s social investments during 2022-2023 amounted to UAH 1.7 billion
For more information, please contact:
Vodafone
Press service
press@vodafone.ua
About Vodafone
Vodafone is one of the world’s largest telecommunications companies, providing a wide range of services including mobile voice, data transfer, messaging, fixed broadband and cable television. The Company operates across 17 countries and partners with mobile networks in 43 countries. As of 31 March 2024, Vodafone provides services to over 340m mobile customers and 28m fixed broadband customers, 20m TV customers and connects more than 162m IoT devices. For more information, please visit www.vodafone.com.
Vodafone Ukraine is a leading telecommunications company that provides high-speed 3G and 4G Internet services and fixed broadband services. The Vodafone’s investments during the active construction of high-speed Internet networks in 2015 –2023 exceeded 42 billion UAH. The record investments have ensured the technological leadership and the development of new technological services – Internet of Things (IoT), technologies and solutions for Smart City, big data analytics, fintech services, cloud services. Vodafone has 15.9 m customers in Ukraine. Since December 2019, Vodafone Ukraine is part of NEQSOL Holding.
About NEQSOL Holding
NEQSOL Holding is a diversified group of companies operating across the energy, telecommunications, hi-tech, and construction industries.
The group of companies operates in the Netherlands, the UK, the USA, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Georgia, Kazakhstan and the UAE.
Along with its plans for further business development in Ukraine, the Holding opened its representation office in Ukraine at the end of 2020.
The aviation industry enterprise FED JSC (Kharkiv) in January-June 2022 received a net income of UAH 228.18 million, which is 2.7 times less than in the same period of 2021.
According to the interim financial statements of the enterprise, published in the information disclosure system of the National Commission for Securities and Stock Market (NCSM), its net profit in the first half of the year decreased by almost 9 times – to UAH 19.84 million.
FED received UAH 26.48 million of net profit from operating activities against UAH 223.3 million a year earlier, while gross profit decreased 3.4 times, to UAH 88.36 million.
The report notes that the suspension of the company’s activities during the war period affected the financial statements, resulting in, in particular, a decrease in revenues. At the same time, the report does not indicate the period for which the work was suspended.
According to the company’s previously published statements for the first quarter of this year, its net income for this period decreased by 40% – to UAH 170.35 million, and net profit by 39% – to UAH 40.12 million.
Thus, in the second quarter of this year, the FED received a loss of UAH 20.28 million against a net profit of UAH 110.19 in April-June 2021, and net income decreased by 5.8 times to UAH 57.83 million.
JSC “FED” is one of the leading enterprises in Ukraine, specializes in the development, production, maintenance and repair of units for aviation, space and general engineering purposes. Export geography includes EU countries, China, South Korea, India, UAE.
In 2021, according to preliminary data, the company increased its net profit by 55% by 2020 – up to UAH 395.37 million, net income has not yet been made public.
By the beginning of 2021, the company employed more than 940 people.
More than 98% of the shares of JSC “FED”, according to the National Securities and Stock Market, belongs to the head of the board Viktor Popov.
Ukrainian insurance companies in January-June 2021 received financial income of UAH 1.358 billion, which is 17.3% less than in the same period a year earlier (UAH 1.642 billion), according to the website of the National Bank of Ukraine.
At the same time, it is clarified that income from participation in capital amounted to UAH 17.8 million (2.9 times more), income from bonds – UAH 719.8 million (more by 28.4%), from deposits – UAH 566.3 million (less by 39.7%), dividends on shares – UAH 3 million against UAH 100,000 for the same period a year earlier.
Other revenues of insurers for the first half of the year amounted to UAH 1.972 billion, while a year earlier, UAH 2.863 billion.
The regulator also reports that during the reporting period, insurance companies reduced their net profit to UAH 1.361 billion from UAH 1.918 billion in the first half of 2020.
In addition, income tax from ordinary activities in January-June of this year amounted to UAH 833.2 million, which is 2% more than in the same period a year earlier (UAH 816.2 million). Tax on gross income from activities by types of insurance, other than life insurance, amounted to UAH 534.6 million (more by 10.6%), life insurance – UAH 63.7 million (more by 9.8%), for transactions with non-resident reinsurers – UAH 300,000 (less by 25%), tax on profits from extraordinary events – UAH 200,000, which corresponds to the indicator for the same period a year earlier.
According to the NBU, the total number of insurance companies in Ukraine as of June 30, 2021 is 181, while on the same date a year earlier – 215, including 19 life insurers (20). At the same time, 166 insurance companies submitted reports on their activities to the regulator.
Minister of Culture and Information Policy Oleksandr Tkachenko initiates a meeting of media representatives with the Ministry of Health and the National Security and Defense Council to discuss a future moratorium on the advertising of medicines and medicines.
“Regarding the moratorium on advertising of drugs and medicines, which should be developed by the Cabinet of Ministers on behalf of the National Security and Defense Council. As an ex-media person, I understand perfectly well that this advertising is 30% of the income of TV and other media. That is why the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy will soon initiate a meeting of media people with the Ministry of Health and the National Security and Defense Council to hear the opinion of the media people themselves,” Tkachenko wrote in the Telegram channel.
The Minister also said that any business, including television, should be socially responsible, and self-medication has nothing to do with responsibility in any civilized country.
According to him, the development of the mechanism will last until the end of the year, and the moratorium itself should be introduced by January 1, 2024.
“There is a transition period and it will be used effectively. In the dialogue with the representatives of media companies we will find a way to implement these changes with minimal losses. First of all, for them,” Tkachenko said.
The losses of Ukrainian shopping and shopping and entertainment centers (malls) due to the government’s imposition of weekend quarantine during Black Friday ranged from 30% to 40% of turnover, the Ukrainian Council of Shopping Centers and the Epicenter K trading network reported to Interfax-Ukraine.
“Due to the introduction of weekend quarantine, the Epicenter network was visited by 750,000 buyers less than last year, and the losses amounted to about UAH 1 billion. The company planned to use this amount of funds to invest in the Ukrainian economy,” the press service of the Epicenter K told the agency.
The drop in turnover in Ukrainian shopping and entertainment centers during the weekend quarantine period amounted to 30-40%, the Ukrainian Council of Shopping Centers reported.
“We expected that the losses would amount to at least 12 billion per month, but in fact, the weekend flows were partially offset by the growth of flows on Friday, Monday and Tuesday. These days, the flow increased by 10-20%, and the quarantine itself lasted three weeks. As a result, according to our calculations, losses amounted to UAH 6-7 billion in three weeks,” the Council noted.
The Epicenter company stressed that the biggest blow to retail was the ban on trade at weekends after Black Friday, when consumers traditionally plan to buy gifts for the New Year. In particular, this year, due to the weekend quarantine, online sales during the Black Friday period decreased by 30% compared to the same period in 2019.
“The stoppage of trade during the period of the greatest consumer demand has significantly reduced the purchasing power of the population, hit domestic producers and will lead to a decrease in tax payments to the budget,” Deputy Director General, Director of Retail Trade of Epicenter K LLC Volodymyr Honcharov is quoted in the comment.
He added that the network cooperates with 5,000 suppliers, most of which are Ukrainian producers.
“Some of them have already announced the forced reduction or even curtailment of production due to financial problems associated with the lack of sources of sale of goods. In addition, the reduction of tax payments to the budgets of all levels will deal a significant blow to the financial support of local communities, especially in small settlements,” he beleives.
The mobile communications operator lifecell increased operating income by 14.2% to UAH 1.746 billion in July-September 2020 (compared to UAH 1.529 billion in July-September 2019).
According to the operator’s press service, the net profit amounted to UAH 36.8 million for the specified period (in the third quarter of 2019, the net loss was UAH 338.3 million). EBITDA increased by 12.3% to UAH 909.8 million, EBITDA margin was 52.1% (for the same period in 2019, this indicator was 53%).
The operator lifecell’s active three-month subscriber base increased by 13% to 7.8 million subscribers in the third quarter and by 2.6% compared to the previous quarter.
At the same time, the active three-month base of users of high-speed mobile 4.5G Internet grew by 51% by the end of the third quarter of 2020 compared to last year and accounted for 60% of all users of data services. Accordingly, the average use of data traffic grew by 59% year to year.
The company’s active three-month ARPU increased by 2.1% in the third quarter of 2020 and amounted to UAH 76.3 compared to UAH 74.7 in the previous year. At the same time, the 12-month active MoU grew by 20.5% to 180.8 minutes (150.1 minutes in Q3 2019).
The operator lifecell’s capital investments increased by 57.1% to UAH 860.6 million in the third quarter of 2020 versus UAH 547.7 million in the third quarter of 2019.
“This quarter we achieved net income for the first time since the company had started operating in 2005. Our subscriber base is continuing to grow, smartphone penetration has reached 81%. The company has managed to gain such results despite all challenging circumstances like pandemic environment, uncompetitive market conditions and strong commitments to state related to fast 4G rollout. And I would like to assure you that we will continue to invest in Ukraine and to do everything we can to provide all our subscribers with best products and services,” Chief Executive Officer of lifecell Ismet Yazici said.
