Kyivstar mobile operator has extended 4G network coverage in 20 regions of Ukraine, connecting 344 more settlements, the company’s press service has said.
The operator, in particular, connected the towns of Tokmak (Zaporizhia region), Soledar (Donetsk region), Svaliava (Zakarpattia region), Pogrebysche (Vinnitsa region), Belz (Lviv region), as well as hundreds of small villages.
Currently, according to the company, due to the increase in 4G communications territory, more than 80% of Ukrainian residents can take advantage of high-speed mobile Internet access in the Kyivstar network.
Since the launch of the 4G communications by the operator in April 2018, more than 10 million subscribers have already taken advantage of the new technology services. During this period, the consumption of mobile Internet in the Kyivstar network increased from 325 to 649 PB.
In the 4G communications network, each subscriber on average uses 10 GB of traffic per month, which is almost twice as much as on a 3G network.
Kyivstar is the largest Ukrainian telecommunications operator. It provides communications and data services based on a wide range of mobile and fixed technologies, including 3G. By the end of 2018, its services were used by about 26.4 million mobile subscribers and about 900,000 fixed Internet customers.
The shareholder of Kyivstar is the international group VEON (formerly VimpelCom Ltd.). The shares of the group are listed on the NASDAQ Stock Exchange (New York).
EssilorLuxottica French-Italian holding, a large player on the global eye-glass, optic equipment market, could acquire Luxoptica, the largest Ukrainian eye-glass network with 176 shops, the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine has reported. The committee said that the committee on Thursday will discuss the provision of a permit to Essilor Nederland Holding B.V. (the Netherlands), fully owned by EssilorLuxottica, to acquire over 50% in International Optical House Holding B.V. (the Netherlands), which holds 100% of Luxoptica Holding LLC (Kyiv).
According to the unified public register of legal entities and private entrepreneurs, the ultimate beneficiaries of Luxoptica Holding are Nadia Shalomova, wife of businessman and former head of the presidential administration of Ukraine Borys Lozhkin, and co-owner of the Dobrobut medical network Oleh Kalashnikov.
Luxoptica was not immediately available for comment.
EssilorLuxottica is a global leader in the design, manufacture and distribution of ophthalmic lenses, frames and sunglasses.
EssilorLuxottica supplies its products to a wide network with more than 10,000 stores, and also sells its products in line with the omnichannel sales model.
In particular, the company is known for such brands of glasses as Ray-Ban and Oakley, optical technologies Varilux and Transitions and ophthalmic retail chains Sunglass Hut and Lenscrafters.
The French Essilor acquired the Italian company Luxottica Group in 2017 for EUR 22.8 billion, creating the largest European lenses manufacturer as a result of the transaction.
The network of branches of Ukrainian banks in the second quarter of 2019 decreased by 2.1%, or 180 offices, to 8,269, the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has reported. According to its data, the leaders in the number of closed branches in April-June of this year were Oschadbank with 102 offices, Prominvestbank with 31 offices, and PrivatBank with 26 branches.
For state-owned Oschadbank or PrivatBank this accounted for 3.9% and 1.3% of the entire network, while for Prominvestbank, controlled by Russia’s VEB, according to the quarterly results, the chain decreased by 2.3 times, to 24 branches.
In addition, the number of Ukrsotsbank branches fell by 23, this was due to its merger with Alfa-Bank, the number of branches of which increased by ten over the quarter. In total, their network comprised 270 branches in the middle of this year.
Among the banks that increased the number of branches in April-June, the leader is FUIB, which extended its network by six new outlets.
Avia Association, the Swiss international network of fuel filling stations, represented by Polish-based Unimot, has signed a memorandum of cooperation in the fuel and energy complex of Ukraine with Wexler Group, the supplier of light oil products, the press service of Wexler Group has reported. According to the group, the first Avia fuel filling stations could appear in the country before the end of 2019.
In addition, Avia is expected to launch production of motor fuels and lubricants jointly with Wexler Group this year.
As reported, Unimot received permission from Swiss-based Avia International to use the brand in Ukraine and announced the plan to open the first fuel stations in the country in 2019. Unimot reported on the receipt of a large number of applications from Ukrainian businessmen that are owners of fuel stations interested in cooperation.
Earlier, Wexler Group also announced plans to significantly increase its presence in the retail market of petroleum products in Ukraine.
PJSC Multiplex-Holding, which develops the Multiplex cinema chain in Ukraine, plans to expand the network in Ukraine by 30% in 2019, co-owner of the Multiplex cinema network Volodymyr Trofymenko has told. “Today Multiplex is the leader in the cinema market of the country: the company has 129 cinema halls and occupies more than 35% of the country’s film screening market. Our main goal for 2019 is to expand the network by 30%,” he outlined the company’s plans for the coming year.
He also reported on the updated membership of the Multiplex-Holding supervisory board. Vladyslav Burda (RedHead Family Corporation) became the head of the supervisory board, e-commerce is supervised by Vladyslav Chechotkin (Rozetka), Oleksandr Pochkun (Baker Tilly Ukraine) is in charge of finance and audit, Maksym Bakhmatov (UNIT.City) for business development and sales, Oksana Semeniuk (Сhangers) is responsible for personnel management, and Ksenia Trofymenko (Multiplex) for the construction of new cinema halls of the network.
According to him, the tasks of the supervisory board include building a strategy for the sustainable development of the network, the formation of a top management team, principles and processes of work with staff, organizational structure and design. “Now our task is to approve plans for the year and monitor their implementation so that in six months we will report on the results. The client service will gradually improve, the mobile application and the company’s fixed assets will be updated, another 40 network cinema halls will open and so on. It’s better to talk about the rest later – when the results of work are visible,” he added.
JYSK Ukraine LLC (Kyiv), developing a network of JYSK furniture and household goods stores in Ukraine, will open the fifth store in Odesa, thus expanding the network in the country to 48 stores. According to the company’s press release, the store with an area of 990 square meters will open in the City Center shopping center in Odesa on December 20.
The facility will operate in the new 3.0 format for the JYSK network: it provides more space, light, an expanded assortment and updated cash desk zones.
“The 3.0 format was introduced in September. And now there are two such stores in Odesa. We took a good pace: 11 JYSK stores were opened in 2018, four of which are in the new format. Next year we will continue to dynamically expand the network in different regions of Ukraine,” Executive Director of JYSK in Ukraine Yevhen Ivanytsia said.
As reported, JYSK Ukraine plans in 2018 to open up to 12 new outlets in the country.
The JYSK network began to develop in Ukraine in 2004. As of November 29, 2018, the network had 47 stores in 20 cities, as well as an online store.
