Lifecell LLC (TM lifecell), the third largest mobile operator in Ukraine, plans to increase its capacity by 30-40% during the first quarter of 2025 by purchasing an additional 5 MHz of frequencies in the 2100 MHz band for UAH 463 million at an auction on Tuesday, the company’s CEO Mykhailo Shelemba said.
“The entire set of measures we plan to implement should at least double the capacity for subscribers next year,” he told Interfax-Ukraine, adding that this will be achieved by installing additional equipment that expands the capacity to use these frequencies in specific sectors, as well as by switching to newer technologies on these frequencies.
Shelemba clarified that the investment in the use of these additional 5 MHz will be small, as it will use existing equipment. According to him, this gives the company the opportunity to use existing resources for resilience – the company has purchased 32 thousand lithium-polymer batteries, which will arrive in December – and more concentrated use of these frequencies through equipment upgrades and synchronization of frequencies with each other: so that frequencies in the 2100, 1800, 900 and 2600 MHz bands work in one ensemble.
Shelemba noted that he was pleased with the results of the auction, although lifecell purchased only one lot, while its two major competitors bought two lots each.
“Our No. 1 priority is to provide the maximum capacity improvement for our subscribers as quickly as possible. And this is provided by lot 2, because it is already very close to our frequencies that we use, and we can simply expand the spectrum by 30% with the same equipment,” he explained.
“The second factor is that even though we already have 10 million subscribers, we have one of the best situations when we count the number of frequencies per subscriber. That is why we see a huge potential for using these frequencies,” added the head of lifecell.
According to him, two of the five lots in the 2300 and 2600 MHz bands acquired by Kyivstar and VF Ukraine (Vodafone Ukraine) require a new network to be built to utilize them.
Mr. Shelemba attributes the fact that all five lots at the auction were sold at prices close to the initial ones to a good, correct strategy of the regulator, which ensured a guaranteed high price and the right restrictions to prevent concentration.
“Each operator calculates the cost of a frequency for itself. But we also calculate, based on our best assumptions and models, how much these frequencies cost for competitors. And when we looked at the starting lots, we saw that the regulator had set the starting price quite high and close enough to the price we were willing to pay,” the operator’s director said.
“It is also important to understand that unlike the first tenders, when there were just new frequencies for 3G or new frequencies for 4G, these frequencies are already additional to the existing ones,” Shelemba added. According to him, lifecell and Vodafone Ukraine sought to acquire primarily the frequencies adjacent to their existing spectrum in the 2100 MHz band, as they were the most efficient, while other frequencies were of lesser value to them.
“Here, the regulator and the state are already choosing everything that can be chosen from these additional frequencies. Therefore, there was a fairly logical distribution of who took which lot, precisely because there are already frequencies in use,” summarized the lifecell CEO.
He added that the 5G factor should also be taken into account.
“Currently, the number of 5G terminals in use is about 20%. In 2-3 years, if we take this as a baseline scenario, the number of terminals will be 35-40%, maybe even higher – up to 50%. And what will happen? When you build a 5G network, terminals use 5G traffic and, accordingly, do not use 4G frequencies. Thus, these 4G frequencies are unloaded,” Shelemba explained.
As reported, on Tuesday, the regulator NKEC held an auction, as a result of which Kyivstar, Vodafone-Ukraine and lifecell received new frequencies in the 2100, 2300 and 2600 MHz bands for 15 years, offering a total of UAH 2 billion 894.734 million for them at an initial total price of UAH 2 billion 871.531 million.
In accordance with the terms of the technology-neutral nationwide licenses established by the NCC, each of the winners undertook to ensure the use of the received frequency band at at least 1,500 base stations within 24 months from the date of the license’s commencement, and at least 500 base stations within the first 12 months.
In March-June, mobile operator lifecell’s revenue increased by 10% year-on-year to UAH 3.215 billion.
According to the report of the parent company Turkcell, lifecell’s net profit in the second quarter increased by 3% to UAH 630.2 million.
Lifecell’s EBITDA increased by 4% to UAH 1.77 billion in the period, but its EBITDA margin decreased by 3.9 percentage points to 55.2%.
The company’s capital investments in the second quarter decreased by 28% to UAH 1.12 billion.
According to Turkcell, on September 9, the company completed the transfer of shares, as well as all rights and obligations in its subsidiaries LifeSell LLC, Global Bilgi LLC and Ukrtower LLC to DVL Telecom, one of the companies of the NJJ Holding group of French billionaire Xavier Niel. Turkcell is no longer a shareholder in these subsidiaries, the company said in its quarterly report.
On the closing date of the transaction, Turkcell received $524.3 million under the share purchase agreement.
Turkcell’s top managers, answering investors’ questions during the conference call, confirmed that the final sale price will be determined based on adjustments to be made at the closing of the transaction, based on the level of net cash/debt as per the financial statements to be prepared at the closing date.
Earlier it was reported that the NJJ consortium transferred $524.3 million to Turkcell and completed the acquisition of Datagroup-Volia and lifecell.
In January-March 2024, lifecell mobile operator’s revenue increased by 16.1% compared to the same period in 2023, to UAH 3.12 billion.
According to the report of the parent company Turkcell, lifecell’s net profit for the first quarter increased by 13% to UAH 582.7 million.
Lifecell’s EBITDA for the period increased by 5.7% to UAH 1.69 billion. At the same time, the EBITDA margin decreased by 5.3 percentage points to 54.4%.
The company’s capital investments in the first quarter increased by 58% to UAH 1.008 billion.
“Three years ago, we developed our medium-term strategy. The name of the strategy was 20-24! It meant 20% market share in 2024! The great lifecell team has done it! The best team in history has increased our market share by 5 percentage points in terms of revenue; from 15.5% to 20.2% for a long time!” Ismet Yazici, CEO of lifecell, commented on the results on Facebook.
He reminded that the company had to work with the challenges of the COVID pandemic, a full-scale war in Ukraine, and unfair regulatory conditions.
Yazidi said that in the first quarter of 2024, lifecell’s subscriber base grew by 12.8%, without specifying the absolute figure.
Turkcell’s report says that the Ukrainian assets of Lifecell LLC, Global Bilgi LLC and Ukrtower LLC, which the Turkish company has owned since July 10, 2015, have been allocated to the disposal group in connection with the agreement to transfer all shares, as well as all rights and debts of these companies to French NJJ. The agreement with the company of French billionaire Xavier Niel was signed on December 29, 2023.
Turkcell CEO Ali Taha Koç, answering investors’ questions at a conference on the first quarter results, said that the deal to sell Ukrainian assets to DVL Telecom, a member of French billionaire Xavier Niel’s NJJ group, would be closed by the end of 2024. According to him, after the Ukrainian court lifted the seizure of some of the assets, the company is awaiting approval from the Antimonopoly Committee, which is the last step to close the deal.
In 2023, Ukrainian mobile operator lifecell increased its net profit by 2.6 times compared to 2022, to UAH 2 billion 567.7 million.
According to the report of Turkcell’s parent company on its website on Wednesday, lifecell’s revenue increased by 24.4% last year to UAH 11 billion 712.1 million.
The operator’s EBITDA increased by 25.3% to UAH 6 billion 808.9 million, while the EBITDA margin grew by only 0.3 percentage points to 58.1%.
The operator’s capital expenditures in 2023 increased by 39.9% to UAH 4 billion 207.1 million.
According to the report, lifecell’s active subscriber base reached 11.7 million in the fourth quarter, up from 11.4 million in the third quarter and 10.2 million a year earlier.
As reported, in the first nine months of 2023, lifecell’s revenue increased by 26% to UAH 8 billion 571.8 million, EBITDA by 26.1% to UAH 4 billion 968.9 million, and net profit by 2.9 times to UAH 1 billion 68.6 million. The company also increased its capital investments by 51% to UAH 3 billion 035.7 million.
Lifecell is the third largest mobile operator in Ukraine. Turkcell owns 100% of the shares in Lifecell LLC.
Lifecell’s revenue in 2023 amounted to 75.9% of Turkcell International’s revenue and 8.4% of Turkcell’s total revenue. The Ukrainian operator accounted for 10.6% of consolidated EBITDA and 7.4% of consolidated profit of Turkcell.
On December 29, 2023, Turkcell signed an agreement to transfer 100% of the shares, as well as all rights and debts of Lifecell LLC (TM lifecell), as well as the contact center outsourcing company Global Bilgi LLC and the tower rental service provider Ukrtower LLC to the French investment company NJJ Capital. In the last report, the operations in Ukraine are listed in discontinued operations. However, the deal has been stalled due to the lack of approval from the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine and the arrest of some Ukrainian companies in the case against Russian businessman Mikhail Fridman, who is an indirect minority shareholder of Turkcell.
The Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU) has identified grounds for banning the acquisition of control over lifecell group by French billionaire Xavier Niel’s DVL Telecom, a member of NJJ group.
In particular, the antitrust agency believes that it is necessary to check the relationship of control of lifecell itself and the parent company Turkcell with the person to whom the decision of the national security and defense Council of Ukraine applied personal special economic and other restrictive measures (sanctions).
“When considering applications for the acquisition of control over the group “Lifecell” by the company “DVL Telecom” arose the need to verify the relationship of control of the participants of the concentration, in particular the group “Lifecell” and the group “Turkcell” with the person to whom the personal special economic and other restrictive measures (sanctions) applied by the decision of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine,” – said the press service of the AMCU on Monday.
The report states that, having considered the applications on the acquisition of control by DVL Telecom over Lifecell LLC, Global Bilgi LLC and Ukrtauer LLC (lifecell group), the AMCU has identified grounds for banning the said concentrations.
“Given that the concentrations in the form of acquisition by DVL Telecom of control over Lifecell LLC, Ukrtauer LLC and Global Bilgi LLC constitute a single transaction and will take place under a single sale and purchase agreement, a separate authorization for DVL Telecom’s acquisition of control over Global Bilgi LLC cannot be granted by the Committee either,” the AMCU notes.
Considering the above, on March 7, 2024, the Committee again started consideration of the concentration cases in the form of acquisition by DVL Telecom of control over Lifesell, Global Bilgi and Ukrtauer LLC. At the same time began consideration of the case on concerted actions, which are directly related to the implementation of these concentrations, specified in the press service.
Earlier it was reported that at the meeting on March 7 AMCU allowed DVL Telecom to acquire control over Datagroup Holding Limited (“Datagroup-Volya”). In addition, the antimonopoly agency allowed concerted actions between NJJ UPAM (Paris, France), Lorimer II Ventures Limited (Nicosia, Cyprus), DVL Telecom (Paris, France) and a natural person – citizen of Ukraine in the form of implementation of provisions on refraining from competition, provided by Section 19 of the shareholders’ agreement, which will be concluded between these entities for a period of five years.
On December 29, 2023, Turkcell, a Turkish company, signed an agreement to transfer 100% of the shares, as well as all rights and debts of Lifecell LLC (TM lifecell), Ukraine’s third largest mobile operator, including contact center outsourcing company Global Bilgi LLC and tower rental service provider Ukrtauer LLC, to the French investment company NJJ Capital.
The decision to sign the agreement was made by the Board of Directors on December 20, but as early as May 9 it decided not to disclose information about the possible deal. Turkcell specified that the nominal price of Lifesell shares is UAH 12 billion 711.849 million, Global Bilgi – UAH 47.226 million and Ukrtauer – UAH 1 billion 964.04 million.
Authorized representatives of NJJ Capital (Paris, France) and Global Bilgi LLC (Kyiv, Ukraine) applied to the Antimonopoly Committee (AMCU) for authorization of NJJ Capital to indirectly acquire a part in the authorized capital of Global Bilgi, which provides for exceeding 50% of votes in the supreme governing body of the company, as well as parts providing for exceeding 50% of votes in the supreme governing bodies of Lifesell and Ukrtauer on December 29, 2023. The applications were returned to them as they did not meet the requirements set by the committee.
On January 23, 2024, AMCU received a second application to acquire the stake that provides control in Lifsell, Global Bilgi and Ukrtauer LLC from DVL Telecom, a member of the NJJ group.
According to market participants, a problem for the completion of the deal may also be the partial seizure of stakes in the companies being sold on charges against the under-sanctioned Mikhail Fridman, who indirectly controls a minority stake in Turkcell.
Mobile operator lifecell opened 48 branded stores in 2023, increasing their total number by 11.4%, the lifecell press service said on Tuesday.
“Over the past year, lifecell has been actively expanding its network of sales outlets and opened 48 new stores in 18 regions of Ukraine, including cities where there were no branded stores before,” the company said in a statement.
According to the report, more than 470 stores have been opened in 247 cities and towns, employing about 1,000 people. In particular, residents of Artsyz, Bobrovytsia, Burshtyn, Vilnohirsk, Horodnia, Horodok, Dolynska, Yelanets, Zhovti Vody, Ivankiv, Irshava, Kamianets-Podilskyi, Kamianets-Podilskyi, Kotsiubynske, Lokhvytsia, Pyriatyn, Pochaiv, Staryi Sambir, Chornobai and Yarmolyntsi now have access to lifecell branded stores.
In addition, it is stated that in 2023 lifecell deepened its cooperation with the postal service Meest Express. According to the report, the mobile operator has equipped all stores with Meest delivery points where such services can be provided.
lifecell is a Ukrainian telecommunications operator with an active 3-month subscriber base of 9.1 million at the end of Q3 2023.
lifecell is owned by Turkcell, Turkey’s largest provider of converged telecommunications and technology services, but Turkcell announced at the end of last year an agreement to sell lifecell and other Ukrainian assets to French investment company NJJ Capital. Later it was clarified that the value of the assets in the deal is estimated at about $525 million.
