The Kyivstar mobile communication operator launches the service to pay for the 838 taxi service using SMS messages, the press service of the company reported on Thursday. According to the press release, the service is available to all Kyivstar prepaid subscribers in 15 cities of Ukraine where the 838 taxi service operates.
The payment is settled using the Kyivstar’s Smart-Money financial service. To do this, when ordering, one need to specify the Smart-Money payment method from Kyivstar or download the Taxi 838 application in the App Store or Google Play and select the appropriate form of payment. At the same time, one does not need to enter information about a credit card. It is enough for the subscriber to have the necessary amount on his mobile account. “The service is simple, safe and does not require a passenger to enter personal data,” the press service said, quoting Head of Kyivstar’s Mobile Financial Services Serhiy Koptik.
According to the operator’s estimates, more than 150,000 subscribers can potentially use the application. This is exactly the number of Kyivstar customers who have called the 838 taxi service over the past few months, although less than 17% of passengers used credit card payments. “This suggests that Ukrainians are still afraid of leaving information about their credit cards in applications,” Koptik said.
The operator said that more than 2,500 active services were posted on the Smart-Money platform, and more than 10 million transactions with it were implemented. The most popular services are payment for telecommunication services, national lotteries, online purchases, and public transport fares.
The Kyivstar mobile communications operator has expanded the territory of coverage with 4G technology in 21 regions in Ukraine and connected 1,046 settlements to the new technologies, providing another 830,000 residents of Ukraine with access to high-speed Internet, the company has said in a report.
So, high-speed mobile Internet appeared in the cities and towns of Baturyn, Berdychiv, Bilovodsk, Varash, Volochysk, Volnyansk, Zolotonosha, Konotop, Manevychi, Mena, Radomyshl, Rubizhne, Sambir, Smila, Starokostiantyniv, Stryi, Khotyn, Schastia, Yampil, as well as several hundreds of villages.
To date, the Kyivstar 4G network operates in 7,885 settlements, 90% of which are located in rural areas. This is the territory where over 29.8 million people or 72% of the population of Ukraine live.
The operator has already installed about 7,500 towers for 4G communications.
The company also said that the operator supported a general plan of action aimed at implementing the decree of President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky on ensuring nationwide coverage of 4G/LTE in the 900 MHz band.
Kyivstar is considering the possibility of becoming a “donor” of frequencies for other mobile operators, provided that the state takes measures to increase the efficiency of the radio frequency spectrum that Kyivstar may receive as a result of redistribution, the company said.
Kyivstar mobile operator starting from October 1, 2019 launches four tariff plans for new customers within the Kyivstar All Together line.
According to the company’s press service, all new tariff plans include home Internet with a speed of 100 Mbps, unlimited calls within the Kyivstar network and unlimited non-tariff Internet for using 42 applications. Among them are Google Maps, Snapchat, Pinterest, Google Play Music, SoundCloud, Spotify, Netflix, as well as the online games Minecraft, World of Tanks BLITZ, the Steam service, etc.
The new Kyivstar All Together Basic tariff, in particular, provides subscribers with 120 minutes to the numbers of other telecom operators, as well as 12GB of mobile Internet.
Within the Kyivstar All Together Favorable tariff, subscribers will have unlimited mobile Internet and 180 minutes for calls to other mobile operators and abroad, as well as 180 SMS for sending within Ukraine.
The Kyivstar All Together Generous tariff includes unlimited mobile Internet and 300 minutes for calls to other mobile numbers in Ukraine and abroad.
The Kyivstar All Together Gaming tariff is designed for fans of the World of Tanks online game. It has additional gaming advantages. In addition, this package includes 300 minutes for calls to other mobile operators in Ukraine and abroad, as well as 300 SMS within Ukraine.
The customs office should address the issues of “grey” imports of mobile terminals, not mobile communications operators.
“As for IMEI codes [international mobile equipment identity], we oppose to disconnecting subscribers due to the fact that an unscrupulous seller sold them a ‘grey’ phone. The fight against illegal import and sale of mobile phones is a function of customs authorities and law enforcement agencies. Shifting this work to telecom operators is wrong,” Kyivstar President Alexander Komarov said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
He also said that in order to solve the problem of stolen telephones there is a so-called “black list of devices,” into which the “phones” get under a statement of the owner about theft or loss and after that they can no longer be used in the networks of operators of a particular country.
At the same time, Komarov said that the identification of subscribers is needed. However, it should be carried out sequentially, in several stages, with certain incentives for subscribers from the operators and the state, he said.
“Identification is, first of all, protecting the subscriber himself from the fact that someone can “steal” the phone number and withdraw money from the card. For some reason, our people are not afraid of this, they think about mythical surveillance, and not about basic security principles of their funds,” the president of Kyivstar said.
According to him, today, up to 15% of the subscribers in the Kyivstar network are identified customers.
The French speed-test company nPerf has published a study of three largest mobile communications operators in Ukraine, where Kyivstar ranks first, according to a presentation on nPerf’s website. The study was conducted from July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2019. nPerf specialists in total analyzed more than 23,100 tests in 2G, 3G, 4G networks.
The number of conventional network speed tests was 10,200, the number of tests while browsing the web was 3,800, and the number of tests during streaming was almost 3,000.
At the same time, 54.9% of tests were carried out in the Kyivstar network, 28.3% in the Vodafone Ukraine network, and only 16.8% in lifecell. The success rate of tests in operator networks was 91.95%, 91.11%, and 88.05%, respectively.
According to the nPerf report, the average data transfer rate in the Kyivstar network reached 22.76 Mb/s download and 13.12 Mb/s upload, while at Vodafone Ukraine these figures were 15.09 Mb/sand 7.64 Mb/s, respectively, while lifecell has 14.94 Mb/s and 6.36 Mb/s.
Kyivstar also achieved the best result in terms of video streaming quality – 84.65% (versus 82.5 for lifecell and 73.97% for Vodafone Ukraine).
At the same time, the third largest mobile operator in Ukraine, lifecell, has the average largest delay in signal transmission – 61.65 ms. Kyivstar with 62.92 ms is second, Vodafone Ukraine is third, with an indicator of 83.92 ms.
According to the results of all tests, the Kyivstar mobile network scored 56,570 points, beating Vodafone Ukraine by almost 9,000 points.
The Kyivstar mobile communications operator has allowed paying for a subscription to sticker packs in Viber (part of Rakuten Inc.) via own Smart-Money financial service for prepaid subscribers, the companies have said in a joint press release.
“This is the first experience of the collaboration of the messenger and the mobile payment service, which was implemented in Ukraine,” the press service of the mobile operator said.
Users of the Smart Money service will be able to subscribe to all stickers in Viber for UAH 20 per month and access immediately to all collections of stickers, which has more than 500 pictures.
Usually, Viber users pay for each sticker pack separately, but one time at a price of UAH 52-54 per one sticker pack.
The service can be used by Kyivstar prepaid subscribers who have installed the Smart Money application, since payments are made from a mobile account.
“Launching a joint project with Viber is an important step for us. We are confident that such a partnership will help develop a culture of payments with mobile money and thus help citizens of Ukraine to strive for a cashless economy,” Senior Business Development Manager at Kyivstar Olena Suvorova said.
According to Rakuten Viber, Ukrainians make about 4 million calls to Viber every day and send 11 million messages.
“For Viber, this is the first experience of such cooperation in Ukraine,” Senior Director for Business Development in Europe, Africa and Middle East Atanas Raykov said.
Kyivstar also said that today, since the launch of the service in September 2018, 6.4 million transactions has been carried out, and the most popular services were: payment for telecommunication services, national lotteries, online purchases and payment for public transport.
