Mobile network operators Kyivstar, Vodafone Ukraine and lifecell plan to build up to 30% of new telecom network sites based on the infrastructure sharing model.
“We have agreed on sharing… All operators are aware that it makes no sense to build three networks in some localities and on some roads, that it makes sense to agree to a reasonable story with investments, it makes sense to share networks. According to forecasts, 30% of the new construction will be the sharing network,” Vodafone Ukraine CEO Olha Ustinova said at a briefing in Kyiv on Tuesday.
She also said that operators have great anticipations about the state’s permission to launch spectral sharing, which will allow them to share not only passive infrastructure, but also its active part.
Ustinova also called the elimination of the digital divide one of the most important projects of the telecom industry in Ukraine.
KYIVSTAR, LIFECELL, MOBILE NETWORK, MOBILE OPERATORS, network, VODAFONE
In October 2020, mobile operators connected 2,497 settlements to 4G communication, providing 320,000 Ukrainians with high-speed mobile Internet, the Ministry of Digital Transformation said on its Facebook page on Monday.
“With the support of the Ministry of Digital Development, mobile operators provide access to 4G for residents of rural areas and remote regions of the country. Over the past month, almost 2,500 settlements have been connected to 4G, and more than 300,000 Ukrainians have been able to use high-speed Internet in their cell phone for the first time,” the press service of the ministry quoted Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov as saying.
According to the minister, the project of providing high-speed Internet to Ukrainians is a priority for the state. “Thanks to the launch of the provision of 4G mobile services in the 900 MHz range, we have doubled the coverage of high-speed mobile Internet,” he clarifies.
According to the ministry, over the entire period of the project, from July to October 2020, more than 4.7 million Ukrainians received 4G (7,700 settlements). At the same time, more than 1.5 million Ukrainians received 4G for the first time (3,800 settlements). In general, 20,506 cities and villages have 4G in the country.
“It remains to connect another 7,300 settlements. These are small villages, where residents often do not have any access to high-speed Internet. By the end of the year, 4G will become available to residents of Cherkasy, Dnipropetrovsk, Kherson, Kharkiv, Zaporizhia, Donetsk, Luhansk regions,” the ministry said.
The mobile operators Kyivstar, Vodafone Ukraine and lifecell, together with Huawei, have launched 4G at 23 more stations of Kyiv metro and in the tunnels between them.
According to the joint press release of the operators, in general, since October 28, the high-speed mobile Internet of three operators has been operating at 45 out of 46 underground stations.
4G will appear at the last Teremky station during December.
The launch of the 4G network in the metro began in March this year from the Akademmistechko station and continued gradually.
“It is interesting that almost 300,000 subscribers of all three operators use 4G Internet every day on average. Together, subscribers of mobile operators have already used more than 400 terabytes of traffic in the metro. This volume would be enough, for example, for a continuous viewing high quality video for 30 years,” the release notes.
For 4G operation in the metro Kyivstar, Vodafone Ukraine and lifecell use joint equipment from Huawei, but their own frequencies in accordance with licenses. Frequencies are used in two bands: 1800 MHz and 2600 MHz. According to the operators, the average 4G speed in the metro exceeds 40 Mbps.
4G, 4G INTERNET, 4G MOBILE, 4G NETWORK, KYIV METRO, KYIVSTAR, LIFECELL, MOBILE OPERATORS, VODAFONE
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.
4G communication in the 1800 MHz band is currently available in 1,380 localities for at least 90% of their residents, the National Commission for Communications and Informatization Regulation (NCCR) has reported. In accordance with the list of localities provided to the NCCR by operators, 4G communications in Ukraine cover: 95 localities by Kyivstar, 1,099 localities by Vodafone Ukraine and 185 localities by lifecell. The lifecell’s press service told Interfax-Ukraine that they had submitted a list of localities with a population of more than 10,000 people to the regulator, in which at least 90% of the population is covered by 4G communication in the 1800 MHz band.
“In total, 4.5G-communication from lifecell in the 1800 MHz band is available in 5,082 settlements with different levels of population coverage,” the lifecell said, citing data as of January 11, 2019.
In turn, the press service of Kyivstar also reported that they submitted exclusively those settlements in which more than 10,000 people live.
“The company did not include localities in the rural areas and small cities with a population of less than 10,000, as these data were not requested by the regulator. As for the territory of the 4G communication network, Kyivstar now covers 3,619 populated localities,” the country’s largest mobile operator said.
Vodafone Ukraine told Interfax-Ukraine that as of January 17, 2019, 1,124 localities are connected to the 4G network, about 19 million Ukrainians live in them, but the company could not explain why the number of localities submitted to the regulator is different compared with its competitors.
Kyivstar and lifecell suggested that such a difference is due to the fact that only the towns with a population of over 10,000 were submitted, while Vodafone Ukraine presented all of the localities.
According to the regulator, mobile operators have already received more than 35,500 licenses to operate radio electronic equipment: more than 24,500for 3G/UMTS; more than 9,500 for 4G/LTE (the 1800 MHz band) and about 1,500 for 4G/LTE (the 2600 MHz band).
According to the licensing conditions, operators must ensure that 4G services can be received within 12 months for at least 90% of the population of each regional center of Ukraine, and within 42 months for at least 90% of the population of each locality with a population of more than 10,000 people except for regional centers and settlements located in the zone of environmental protection and on the areas annexed by Russia.
