Ukraine’s largest mobile operator Kyivstar will receive $600m of investment from its parent company VEON over the next three years to implement infrastructure projects, including in the liberated territories, expand 4G coverage, focus on 5G reconstruction, support operator services and charity.
VEON announced the investment commitment at the Ukraine Recovery Conference in London (URC2023), according to a statement on the company’s official website Wednesday.
“Global digital operator VEON will invest the equivalent of $600 million in its subsidiary Kyivstar over the next three years. The investment will cover Kyivstar’s infrastructure projects, providing essential communications and 4G services across the country, developing high-quality digital services available to all Ukrainians, and community support projects,” the statement reads.
The company notes that investments will be made to support Kyivstar services as well as digital verticals that will have a positive social impact on the Ukrainian society. They will allow to expand the operator’s network from “LTE everywhere” and fiber to the reconstruction focused on 5G, to provide high-quality Internet coverage for millions of users.
With the planned expansion of 4G networks Kyivstar plans to increase 4G coverage to 98% in Ukraine, including in small and remote settlements in three years. The investments will be used to expand the network connectivity.
In addition, Kyivstar will continue to provide funds for charity support. In VEON reminded that from the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the operator has allocated 1.1 billion UAH (about $32.5 million) for these purposes.
“As part of its investment commitment, Kyivstar will continue working with leading Ukrainian NGOs and community initiatives, supporting charitable projects with donations and socially responsible business partnerships,” the press release said.
“The last 16 months have shown the world that communications really is a lifeline for Ukraine. Thanks to the dedication of our team of 4,000 people and the support of our parent company VEON, Kyivstar plays a key role in ensuring the sustainability and recovery of Ukraine from February 24, 2022,” Kyivstar President Alexander Komarov is quoted in the statement.
On his Facebook page, Komarov also noted that the parent company’s investment will allow Kyivstar to restore communications in territories that will be vacated, build new network facilities, increase 4G coverage in the suburban area and on highways, and develop new digital products and services for Ukraine and local communities.
“Kyivstar is the largest mobile communications operator in Ukraine with 24.3 million mobile subscribers and over 1.1 million home internet subscribers. The company provides services based on mobile and fixed-line technologies, including 4G, as well as innovative services such as Big Data, IoT, cloud solutions, digital TV, digital health, etc.
Since the full-scale invasion, Kyivstar’s technicians performed about 150 thousand repairs, which is twice as much as before the invasion, reconnected 800 settlements, modernized and deployed about 10 thousand 4G base stations and installed 32 thousand new batteries to ensure the continuity of communication in case of the blackout.
Kyivstar is 100% owned by VEON, an international group headquartered in the Netherlands.
VEON is a global digital operator that currently provides convergent communications and online services to more than 160 million customers in six dynamic emerging markets VEON is listed on NASDAQ and Euronext Amsterdam.
The largest Ukrainian mobile operator Kyivstar in the first quarter of 2023 increased its hryvnia revenue by 6% (in dollars it decreased by 17.2%) compared to the same period in 2022, to UAH 8.346 billion, according to a report by the parent company VEON.
According to it, during the reporting period, Kyivstar increased its EBITDA by 1% in hryvnia (in dollars, the figure decreased by 21.2%) compared to the same period last year – up to UAH 4.921 billion, and its EBITDA margin decreased by 2.9 percentage points (p.p.) – to 59%.
The company clarified that revenues from mobile services increased by 6.7%, to UAH 7.830 billion.
In addition, the operator noted that in the first quarter of 2023, the consumption of minutes per subscriber (MoU) decreased by 11.7%, to 551 from 624 in the same period last year. At the same time, the use of mobile Internet over the same period increased by 23.4% – up to 9.5 gigabytes per subscriber, while the average revenue per user (ARPU) increased by 13.3% – up to UAH 106.
The subscriber base in the first quarter of 2023 amounted to 24.3 million, 6.7% less than a year earlier, at the same time, the number of 4G users increased by 4.2%, or 600,000, to 13.3 million in a year, and now 4G penetration in the subscriber base is 54.6%.
As for the Kyivstar fixed network, its revenues decreased by 4.2%, to UAH 463 million, and the number of users by 7%, to 1.1 million.
At the same time, the company noted a 27.7% increase, to 1 million, in the number of users of Kyivstar TV’s streaming business and the recent launch of the Children’s Profile in it.
According to the report, Kyivstar’s capital expenditures increased by 18.4% over the reporting period, to UAH 780 million.
According to the company, Kyivstar’s capital expenditures were aimed at maintaining the main networks in the country, as well as the sustainability of the business. The Kyivstar team was able to keep almost 90% of the radio network as of the end of March 2023.
During the quarter, 81 settlements were connected to the 4G network, 215 new base stations were added and another 460 were converted to 4G.
In the first quarter of this year, VEON did not record significant impairment losses related to operations in Ukraine and no impairment losses related to operations in Russia.
Kyivstar, Ukraine’s largest mobile operator, has extended for three years the terms of office of all seven members of its supervisory board, including former Naftogaz-Ukraine CEO Andriy Kobolyev, who is currently defending in court his legitimacy in receiving a large bonus from Naftogaz in a dispute with NABU and SAP.
According to the company’s statement on Wednesday, the relevant decision was approved by the shareholders’ meeting on April 28.
According to it, all members of the supervisory board are representatives of the company’s shareholder, VEON Holdings B.V.
In particular, the powers of Gennadiy Gazin, who chaired the Supervisory Board, as well as Dmytro Shymkiv, Mukhterem Kaan Terzioglu, Serkan Okandan, Matthew Paul Marie Galvani and Karen Marie Linehan were extended for three years.
“Kyivstar is the largest Ukrainian telecommunications operator. It provides communication and data transmission services based on a wide range of mobile and fixed technologies, including 4G.
Kyivstar’s shareholder is the international group VEON (formerly VimpelCom Ltd.). The group’s shares are listed on the NASDAQ Stock Exchange (New York).
Kyivstar and lifecell have launched new security solutions for their customers: “Kyivstar, in cooperation with Fortinet, a network security company specializing in devices, announced new cyber security solutions, while lifecell announced access to the DefensX browser with enhanced cybersecurity and credential protection to protect Internet users from online threats.
According to Kyivstar’s release, Fortinet solutions will be available in different versions: from physical hardware to specialized virtual machines. In particular, they will be available on a subscription basis.
It is also claimed that customized services to counter cyber threats can be offered, taking into account the needs of companies, with support at all stages of implementation and use.
“The peculiarity of the DefensX browser is that all web pages accessed by the user are opened in the cloud, i.e. remotely from the device traffic and the user’s endpoint, which ensures reliable blocking of malicious code fragments and potential threats,” lifecell explained the essence of its offer.
The company added that the browser’s features also include the ability to block ads and phishing warnings.
DefensX was developed by lifecell’s partner Secure Industries, Inc. The product was available as part of a comprehensive corporate solution for the partner’s B2B customers.
As reported, during the year of full-scale war, Kyivstar’s cybersecurity department successfully blocked more than 450 DDoS attacks on the network and more than 13 thousand phishing attacks.
Earlier, in 2021, Kyivstar business customers already have access to the AntiDDoS service to protect against DDoS attacks (a solution based on FortiDDoS from Fortinet).
Kyivstar, Ukraine’s largest mobile operator, will build 170 and upgrade more than 1,000 base stations in the first quarter of 2023, this work is largely due to significant migration to cities and villages in the west of the country, company president Alexander Komarov said in Facebook on Tuesday.
“The level of availability of the network “Kyivstar” in the free territory of Ukraine is more than 99%. This corresponds to the level until February 24, 2022. Nevertheless, there are difficulties in maintaining this quality of communication, the solution of which we are actively working on, “- said the head of the company.
According to him, from time to time the company has difficulties with maintaining an appropriate level of network availability because of bad weather and related warning blackouts, and sometimes the difficulties are caused by security issues, irresponsible attitude of landlords and problems getting access to the network.
Komarov pointed out that Kyivstar does not reduce the rate of battery replacement and connection of new generators, bringing the total number of the latter to about 1,900, as the threat of blackouts remains, and the current improved situation with power supply is a seasonal phenomenon associated with the successful actions of the air defense and a surplus in generation.
The head of the company also said that in the Kharkiv and decouped territories of the Kherson region, grid restoration work is in its final stage.
As reported, in 2022 Kyivstar built 659 new base stations, which roughly corresponds to the level of 2021. In total, the company has about 14 thousand base stations and other network facilities.
Komarov said at Business Wisdom Summit on March 15 that Kyivstar installed 1,790 generators, of which 700 were provided by the business on crowdfunding terms. Their total capacity reached 40 MW.
Ukraine’s largest mobile operator Kyivstar has joined the National Bank of Ukraine’s (NBU) BankID electronic remote identification system for individuals, the bank’s press service said on Friday.
“Another large mobile operator, Kyivstar, has joined the NBU’s BankID system. Now, using BankID NBU system, Kyivstar prepaid subscribers in mobile application “My Kyivstar” will be able to pass identification for switching to a contract form of service,” – explains the report.
Switching to contract form of service or mobile number registration is the most effective protection of subscriber’s SIM-card from fraud, the NBU pointed out.
Now NBU BankID System is used by all three major mobile operators in Ukraine: in April 2021 Lifecell Ukraine and in April 2022 Vodafone Ukraine joined to it.
As reported, BankID NBU provides access to services of more than 40 state and public institutions, allows users to be verified remotely to gain remote access to financial, administrative and commercial services.
As of April 14, 2022 the BankID NBU System had 40 BankIDs, including PrivatBank, Ukrgasbank, Ukrsibbank, Ukreximbank, Alliance Bank, Forward Bank, PUMB, Oschadbank, Alfa-Bank, OTP Bank, Accordbank, Globus Bank, Piraeus Bank, Pravex Bank, Raiffeisen Bank Aval, TAScombank, Kristallbank (all – Kyiv), Motor Bank (Zaporizhia), Vostok, Radabank, Concord Bank, A-Bank (all – Dnipro), Credobank, Idea Bank, Lviv Bank (all – Lviv), Pivdenny Bank (Odessa), MTB Bank (Odessa obl. ), Asvio Bank (Chernihiv), as well as virtual monobank and izibank.
