Kyivstar, the mobile network operator, has announced the launch of the Open Telecom Platform, an online platform for interaction with IT grocery companies, which allows connecting to the operator’s services and using its data sets for product development and testing.
“Tomorrow we will take the first step. We will present a kind of portal of data versions for our potential partners – Open Telecom Platform from Kyivstar. It will give them the opportunity to connect to us, integrate with us and use some of the more popular service options that we are selling right now as a kind of trial version for creating own products, ideas or applications,” Kyivstar President of Alexander Komarov said during the online forum Lviv IT Arena on Friday.
According to him, the available options for using the portal are largely related to the capabilities and data available to Kyivstar as the largest Ukrainian operator.
The mobile network operator Kyivstar is ready to share its resources and services with the business to create new applications and services for different models of cooperation, including partnership.
“As an operator, we are a very closed system. This is largely due to the fact that for us any type of partnership is a very high risk. We are a large business and, attracting a small partner, we take risks. Therefore, for many years we were caught in ourselves… But It seems to me that on a new evolutionary stage – IT and digital – we need to open up,” Kyivstar President of Alexander Komarov said at a conference in Kyiv on Thursday evening.
According to him, at present, the mobile communications market has a huge entrepreneurial potential, with which large companies are unable to fully cooperate due to the high bureaucracy of processes. At the same time, this area is very attractive in terms of the speed of generating ideas and their usefulness for the industry as a whole.
“We have such a concept – Open operator. Now we have a very fashionable story: an open API bank, when, in the long run, the exchange of impersonal customer information allows building additional business on top of basic banking processes and services. We have approximately the same vision for the mobile business,” Komarov said.
He also recalled that earlier Kyivstar tried to attract third-party developers at the level of accelerators, selected even several interesting projects, but “strangled them with its red tape.”
“We have studied the most popular areas for business partners, prepared certain technological API stacks for them, and in principle we are ready at the pilot level in the next six months to open and see if potential partners succeed in coming up with some business models or business services that would be of interest to our clients,” Komarov said.
He said that the operator’s openness for partner companies means the ability to technologically connect to the network and anonymized data of the operator, as well as the presence of an IT sandbox where ideas and products can be tested at the stage of their development.
According to him, Kyivstar is ready to consider various models of cooperation, including partnership. “The question of dividing money always arises, but our task now is to get people to talk about money,” he said.
Komarov also noted the plans of Kyivstar to soon transform from an operator into a modern digital-IT company capable of developing its own products and commercializing partner products quite successfully in its network.
Kyivstar plans to strengthen the internal development department by the end of the year, so that to have digital divisions with 120 people and at least 70 in-house developers.
The mobile operator Kyivstar has installed 157 new base stations for the 4G network, connecting another 432 settlements in 17 regions of Ukraine to high-speed mobile Internet using LTE technology.
According to the company’s statement, 326,000 people live in these settlements. In particular, these are Novy Rozdil, Lymna (Lviv region), Dolynska, Nova Praha, Novhorodka (Kirovohrad region), Sribne (Chernihiv region), Zarychanka, Trebukhivtsi (Khmelnytsky region), Katerynka (Mykolaiv region), Sivashske, Novoraisk (Kherson region), Moshny (Cherkasy region), etc.
To expand the territory of the 4G network, Kyivstar will include 157 additional base stations. Of these, 38 have already been launched at GSM-900, 19 at GSM-1800.
Kyivstar continues to develop 4G communications at 1800 MHz, 2600 MHz and 900 MHz and has already connected more than 15,000 settlements to high-speed mobile Internet.
The mobile operator Kyivstar has improved 4G geographical accessibility in 75 settlements of Kyiv region by installing new base towers operating at 900 MHz.
According to the Kyivstar press office, due to the construction of a new network, 14,000 inhabitants of small settlements of Polisky, Makariv, Ivankiv and Bila Tserkva districts of Kyiv region gained access to access to the high-speed mobile Internet services.
In order to increase the territory of the 4G network coverage in Kyiv region, the operator switched on 12 additional base stations operating at GSM-900 MHz.
Kyivstar also continues to increase its 4G coverage at the expense of other bands – 1800 MHz and 2600 MHz bands. Since the beginning of 2020, the operator has connected almost 6,000 settlements to high-speed mobile Internet using LTE technology.
During the time of developing LTE technology in Ukraine, access to high-speed mobile Internet from Kyivstar appeared in 15,000 settlements.
Kyivstar mobile operator has switched on 266 new 4G base stations, improving communications in 1,260 settlements in 18 regions of Ukraine, where 632,000 people live.
According to the press service of the operator, in particular, 4G coverage in Zhytomyr region extended by 382 settlements, in Khmelnytsky region by 245, in Vinnytsia region by 236, Lviv region by 170, and in Chernihiv region by 51.
Kyivstar notes that the increase in the 4G coverage area has become possible as a result of the use of frequencies in the 900 MHz range, which allows mobile operators to quickly reach sparsely populated areas with communications. To this end, in June 2020, mobile operators began to exchange radio frequencies in the 900 MHz range.
The company plans to provide access to 4G for 90% of the Ukrainian population in two years.
Mobile communications operator Kyivstar is updating the prepaid tariffs Communication Unlim, Fun Unlim and Video Unlim, doubling the number of megabytes of Internet and minutes for calls to other networks.
The press service of the company said on Tuesday, in particular, in the tariff Communication Unlim subscribers will receive 60 minutes for calls to other networks and abroad, and 6,000 MB of mobile Internet (earlier this tariff included 30 minutes to other networks and 3,000 MB of the Internet). For those who do not need mobile Internet, the tariff has the No megabytes option.
The Fund Unlim tariff now includes 120 minutes for calls to other networks and abroad, 12,000 MB of mobile Internet and even more unlimited applications for entertainment.
For subscribers who choose the Video Unlim tariff, Kyivstar now gives 180 minutes for calls to other networks and abroad, and 18,000 MB of mobile Internet. All tariffs also include a free subscription to the Doctor online telemedicine application.
The operator said that all prepaid subscribers who will switch to one of the specified tariffs from September 1 can use the new conditions. This can be done, including by subscribers with the previous Unlim tariffs.
Since the beginning of 2020, Kyivstar has connected more than 6,000 settlements to high-speed mobile Internet. The operator plans to provide 90% of the Ukrainian population before July 2022 with access to 4G networks.
