The leading Ukrainian mobile communications operator Kyivstar (Kyiv) in 2018 saw UAH 6.802 billion in net profit, which is 10.3% more than in 2017, according to a company announcement on holding the annual general meeting of shareholders scheduled for April 22, 2019.
According to the report, the retained earnings of the company at the end of the year totaled UAH 15.778 billion compared with UAH 16.217 billion a year ago.
“To determine that the accumulated retained earnings of the company as of the end of 2018 are retained earnings that are subject to further distribution in the form of dividends (annual or interim) or any other use as decided by the general meeting of shareholders of the company,” the company said in a draft decision of the meeting.
In accordance with the announcement, at the end of 2018, Kyivstar had UAH 5.2 billion of free cash.
Its noncurrent liabilities for the year increased slightly, to UAH 0.34 billion, while the current liabilities by 80.3%, to UAH 7.78 billion, and the total receivables decreased 23.8%, to UAH 1.03 billion.
In 2018, the company increased its fixed assets by 13.5%, to UAH 8.11 billion, and its total assets increased by 14.1%, to UAH 24.81 billion.
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 largest Ukrainian mobile communications operator Kyivstar has won a tender to select a mobile communication operator to service the largest mining and metallurgical group in the country Metinvest initiated by the logistic and procurement directorate of Metinvest Holding LLC and Metinvest Digital LLC.
“Intensive piloting of projects using new technologies together with mechanisms for rapid testing of ideas in the digital field allows the Metinvest Digital team to increase the digital maturity of the Metinvest Group..,” Kyivstar said in a press release on March 15, citing Metinvest Digital Director of the IT service provision department Serhiy Fedchun.
According to him, the long term cooperation with Kyivstar will allow Metinvest to build reliable channels to create a platform for digital business solutions and significantly increase the level of mobile services for the group’s employees.
Director for Corporate Market Business Development at Kyivstar Yevhen Krazhan said that the cooperation of the companies is a long term strategic project. Under the terms of the signed agreement, it envisages the provision of high quality mobile communications and related services to employees of the Metinvest Group, cooperation in projects for digital modernization of enterprises and the creation of high-tech conditions for the efficient operation of the business.
Director for Logistics and Procurement at Metinvest Holding LLC Oleksiy Hromakov said that the agreement also fixes transparent pricing and flexible optimal tariff plans for five years in order to minimize communication costs both in Ukraine and abroad.
Kyivstar, the leading Ukrainian mobile communications operator, plans to invest in the development of 4G (LTE) standard by 18-20% more in 2019 compared with 2018, Kyivstar President Alexander Komarov has said. In 2018, capital expenses of the company totaled UAH 3.1 billion. “In 2018, we increased investment in LTE by 18%. In 2019 and 2020, we are planning to maintain the same growth pace and even more – up to 20%,” he told reporters in Kyiv on Thursday.
Komarov said that Kyivstar, like other mobile operators that have purchased 3G and 4G licenses at tenders, are now in the middle of the investment cycle for implementing these communication standards.
“For a few more years, we will actively invest in comparative amounts in LTE, about UAH 3 billion a year,” the president of the largest operator said.
He said that at present, Kyivstar is focusing on the introduction of a more promising in terms of speed and data volume transmission 4G. The president of the company said that if the state is ready to provide the operator with frequencies in the range of 700-800 MHz and ensure the principle of technology neutrality for the market, the above investments can be increased to cover new village communication standards and reduce the “digital gap.”
Komarov also expressed the opinion that the possible implementation of the 5G communication standard in the Ukrainian market is still premature, since it is ahead of the market needs and the willingness of market players to invest.
At the same time, he said that Kyivstar intends to invest annually about UAH 100 million of its own funds in new promising business areas, among which he called FinTech, Internet of Things (IoT), cloud solutions and technologies, big data.
According to him, the goal is to bring the share of this new income of the total income of Kyivstar over three years to 10%. The president of the company said that the search for optimal forms of cooperation with possible partners in these areas is currently underway.
Ookla (the United States), the developer of Speedtest service, has said that Kyivstar mobile communication operator is Ukraine’s Speedtest Awards Winner for mobile network speed, according to the Ookla Speedtest report posted on the Speedtest website.
According to the report, in 2018, the company made over 4.73 million test counts for subscribers of all mobile operators. In particular, the total number of test counts in the Kyivstar network was 2.2 million with average download speed of 17.94 Mbps and average upload speed of 8.99 Mbps.
Some 1.43 million test counts were made in the Vodafone Ukraine network with average download speed of 14 Mbps and average upload speed of 6.63 Mbps, and in the lifecell network 1.1 million test counts were made with average download speed of 16.64 Mbps and average upload speed of 6.69 Mbps.
According to Ookla, Kyivstar’s Speed Score was 16.32, lifcell’s – 15.10 and Vodafone Ukraine’s – 12.74. Speed Score incorporates a measure of each provider’s download and upload speed to rank network speed performance.
A total of 632,300 unique devices launched the Speedtest application in Ukraine, including Redmi Note 4 (33,100 test counts), iPhone 7 (27,000 test counts), Redmi 4X (25,300 test counts), iPhone 6s (24,600 test counts), and iPhone 6 (18,800 test counts).
According to the Ookla report, in February 2019, Speed Score for mobile networks in Ukraine was 17.10, and the country ranked 93rd among 137 countries in the Speedtest rating (51st among 177 countries in terms of fixed-line Internet speed).
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).
Kyivstar mobile communications operator is launching the Narrowband Internet of Things (NB IoT) network in the 1800 MHz frequency band (Band 3), the press service of the operator has told Interfax-Ukraine. The operator tested the NB IoT networks designed for smart devices in December 2018 and early 2019 in its laboratory using gas and water meters.
“Successful testing of the network allowed us to scale up the project and begin its implementation at client locations. In particular, the operator’s business clients in Kyiv and Odesa regions have already joined the network for testing it at their enterprises,” the company said.
The company plans to launch the NB IoT network for customers all over Ukraine, who can order both connection to the NB IoT network, “smart” devices and software for monitoring and control.
NB IoT is a Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) radio technology standard developed by 3GPP to enable a wide range of cellular devices and services. The technology provides an environment for collecting data from various types of equipment: sensors, meters, and others; and provides two-way communication of devices operating in a 200 kHz frequency band. The data transfer rate in NB IoT is up to 200 kbps, which is sufficient for devices that periodically transmit small data of the same type.
