The mobile communications operator Kyivstar saw a 10.1% rise in total revenue in January-March 2018 year-over-year, to UAH 4.263 billion, according to a financial report of the company’s shareholder – Veon international group (before the rebranding it was VimpelCom Ltd.) posted on its official website. According to the report, during this period, Kyivstar increased earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) by 16.4% compared to the same period in 2016, to UAH 2.412 billion. The EBITDA margin increased 3 percentage points (p.p.), to 56.6%.
Revenue from mobile operator services for the first three months of 2018 amounted to UAH 3.968 billion, an 11% increase over the same period in 2017, which is explained by the growth in both the number of mobile Internet users (by 1.6 million) and their mobile data use (average consumption of mobile data traffic per month increased by 121%, to 1.5 GB per subscriber).
At the same time, revenue from mobile Internet for the year increased by almost 59%. Its share was 33% of total revenue from mobile communications. The number of mobile subscribers of Kyivstar in January-March 2018 increased 1.9% to 26.5 million. The minutes of use (MoU) grew by 2.1%, to 586 minutes. The average revenue per user (ARPU) rose by 8.5%, to UAH 49 per month.
Revenue of the mobile operator from fixed-line communications remained unchanged in the first quarter of 2018, being UAH 295 million. The number of fixed-line Internet users slightly grew – by 2.7%, to some 800,000 users, and ARPU from fixed-line Internet grew by 4.3%, to UAH 72.
Capital investment over the period fell by 6.8% (not taking into account the cost of 4G licenses), reaching UAH 687 million.
According to the report, the operator continued to deploy its 3G network in the first quarter, expanding its coverage of the area with the 3G network from 64% in the first quarter of 2017 to 74% in the first quarter of 2018. In April 2018, the company began to provide communication services in the 4G (LTE) standard. In the first quarter of 2018, Kyivstar transferred more than UAH 2.9 billion taxes and duties to the national budget of Ukraine.
Subscribers of the largest Ukrainian mobile communications operator Kyivstar speak 589 minutes on average on cell phones, and average voice calls in the European Union (EU) amount to 200 minutes a month, President of Kyivstar Peter Chernyshov wrote on his Facebook page. He said that Ukrainians on average use mobile phone more and pay less.
“According to GSMА Intelligence, in 2017, subscribers in the EU used 200 minutes a month on average. The average revenue per user (ARPU) was UAH 267 ($13.72). Each subscriber of the Kyivstar network used 589 minutes a month on average with ARPU of UAH 49 ($1.8),” Chernyshov said.
He also said that a Frenchman or a Portuguese used near 3 gigabytes of data traffic a month in 2017, and a Ukrainian used 1 gigabyte. The president of Kyivstar believes that after the full launch of 4G communication in Ukraine the situation would change and Ukrainians would use mobile Internet more actively.
The 4G communications tender for the 1800 MHz band on March 6 was held honestly, professionally and openly, fully in line with the Ukrainian legislation, President of the largest Ukrainian mobile communications operator Kyivstar Petro Chernyshov has said. “We are thankful for support of authorities in holding the successful tender, in particular, the president of Ukraine. I regret about my previous comments. I had no intention to criticize the tender process,” he said in a statement published on Wednesday.
Earlier on Wednesday, an interview of on March 6 was published. He criticized the fact that Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko spoke at the tender between the session for the second and third lots.
In the new statement, the Kyivstar president pointed out concerted efforts of all power institutions, the regulator and the government during the entire period of preparations and holding the 4G tenders for 1800 MHz and 2600 MHz to make them successful.
Chernyshov recalled that the company invested over UAH 14 billion in the development of new technologies in Ukraine and seeks to expand its presence in the sphere, in particular, to install over 600 additional towers in 2018 to expand the 4G coverage territory on the major part of Ukraine, including in rural areas.
Kyivstar highly appreciates the potential of 4G development in Ukraine and believes that access to new technologies became possible thanks to the holding of the successful and transparent 4G tender for radio frequencies.
Kyivstar mobile operator plans to launch 4G communications in the 2600 MHz range by April 10 of this year, company president Peter Chernyshov has said.
“Friends, you know that Kyivstar is a law-abiding company. We are waiting for all the necessary permits and conducting additional network settings in connection with the new requirements of controlling state bodies. All is made in order to launch high-quality 4G from Kyivstar. It is important for us that our subscribers get a positive experience of using the service. Quickly does not always mean qualitatively. We plan to launch 4G by April 10,” he wrote on his Facebook page.
As reported, Vodafone Ukraine mobile operator plans from March 30 to April 2 to launch 4G communications in the 2600 MHz band in 20 cities of Ukraine.