The second largest Ukrainian mobile operator, Vodafone Ukraine (VFU), invested UAH 754 million in strengthening the energy resilience of its network in 2024, equipping 65% of its base stations (BS) with backup power systems capable of providing autonomous operation for 4 to 72 hours.
“As of the end of 2024, all of the company’s base stations are equipped with backup power systems, 65% of which are capable of providing backup power for 4 to 72 hours in the event of a planned or emergency power outage,” the company said in a management report on its official website.
Over the past two years, the company has been investing in new types of batteries for its communications facilities, installing lithium-ferrous (LiFePO4) batteries at its base stations. They are much better suited to harsh operating conditions with frequent and prolonged power outages and are capable of providing 13 times more charge cycles, according to the statement.
In 2024, Vodafone Ukraine installed and planned to install 83,400 lithium-iron batteries (20,850 48V batteries with a capacity of 100 Ah), which is 1.5 times more than the capacity of the network at the beginning of 2024. The equipment can operate autonomously for 4 to 20 hours.
The mobile network is also supported by 1,932 generator sets, including its own stationary and mobile generators, as well as generator sets from partners and customers.
During the full-scale war alone, Vodafone Ukraine purchased about 500 mobile generators and the necessary auxiliary equipment for their operation. In 2024-2025, the company plans to further increase their number to comply with the relevant orders of the National Center for Operational and Technical Management of Telecommunications Networks (NCTU). It plans to purchase 250 stationary diesel generator sets (DGS) and 250 mobile generators, according to the company’s statement.
The statement also said that in 2024, Vodafone Ukraine built three solar power plants in the Poltava and Dnipropetrovsk regions.
Earlier, the company’s CEO Olga Ustinova said that Vodafone Ukraine had invested UAH 2 billion in rechargeable batteries over the past two years to power base stations during power outages.
Ukraine’s second-largest mobile operator, Vodafone Ukraine (VFU), increased its revenue by 14% in January-March 2025 compared to the same period in 2024, to UAH 6.59 billion, while reducing its net profit by 24% to UAH 697 million.
The 24% decline in net profit compared to the same period last year was due to the restructuring of Eurobonds, increased investments, and higher tax payments, according to a statement posted on VF Ukraine’s official website on Friday.
The main drivers of the company’s revenue growth were increased data usage, growth in the number of Internet users and, as a result, growth in revenues from both mobile and fixed communications. This also contributed to a 5% increase in OIBDA to UAH 3.34 billion, the report said.
ARPU (average revenue per user) in the first quarter of 2025 increased by 15% compared to the first quarter of last year to UAH 128.1/month. At the same time, the subscriber base in the reporting period decreased slightly by 0.6% to 15.7 million users.
The OIBDA margin remained high at 50.7%. It decreased by 4.6 percentage points compared to the first quarter of 2024, mainly due to higher electricity costs, increased expenses for ensuring the energy stability of the network, and higher fees for the use of radio frequency resources.
Vodafone Ukraine almost doubled its infrastructure investments in January-March 2025, which grew by 95% compared to the same period in 2024, to UAH 1.59 billion.
Energy independence is among the priority areas in which the company has invested. In the first three months of 2025, Vodafone Ukraine significantly improved the energy resilience of its network, in particular by increasing the number of mobile communication points capable of operating during prolonged power outages by 1.5 times, according to the report.
The company invested in expanding coverage and increasing network capacity, as well as in preparations for next-generation technologies. Vodafone Ukraine launched 1,171 new network standards to improve coverage and connection quality. The operator also began connecting mobile base stations using passive xPON optical networks, which will enable a smoother transition to next-generation mobile technologies—5G and, in the future, possibly 6G.
During the first quarter, work continued on the development and modernization of fixed-line networks. Vodafone Ukraine began upgrading the telecommunications infrastructure of fixed-line operator Frinet and continued to expand fixed broadband networks using modern GPON technology.
In January-March, Vodafone Ukraine’s Home Internet service, which remains operational even during power outages, was launched in another 124,000 households. The company’s total fixed-line coverage across all technologies now exceeds 1.9 million households. The company is actively expanding its presence in new regions – in Kyiv, Odesa, Dnipro, Kharkiv, Lviv, Zaporizhia, Mykolaiv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Poltava, Chernihiv, Zhytomyr, Lutsk, Rivne, and Ternopil, according to the report.
Vodafone Ukraine has also launched its first 3-in-1 tariff line, GigaCombo, which combines mobile communications, fixed Internet, and television in a single tariff package.
In total, since the start of the full-scale war, Vodafone Ukraine has invested over UAH 17 billion in the development of telecommunications infrastructure in Ukraine.
In February 2025, Vodafone Ukraine successfully completed the restructuring of its Eurobonds, repurchasing bonds worth almost $100 million. The remaining liabilities now amount to $300 million, according to the company’s statement.
Ukraine’s second largest mobile operator, Vodafone Ukraine (VFU), has decided to pay its shareholders an annual dividend of UAH 702 million for 2024 on its ordinary shares.
The relevant decision was made by the shareholders of VF Ukraine at the annual general meeting on April 24, 2025, the company reported on its website.
The amount of dividends per ordinary share of the company is UAH 0.90 (ninety kopecks).
The payment will be made by October 24, 2025.
In 2023, the company paid UAH 1.81 billion in dividends to Telco Solutions and Investments LLC and UAH 18.28 million to PPT Telecom Kyiv.
The company’s financial report for 2024, published in early April, stated that it would not pay dividends to shareholders in 2024.
As reported, in 2024, Vodafone Ukraine increased its revenue by 13.1% to UAH 24.44 billion, while reducing its profit by 30.1% to UAH 3.54 billion.
“Vodafone Ukraine is Ukraine’s second largest mobile operator providing 4G broadband, fixed-line and internet services. Vodafone’s investments in the period of active construction of high-speed networks in 2015-2024 reached UAH 48.5 billion. Vodafone services are used by 15.8 million customers in Ukraine. Since December 2019, Vodafone Ukraine has been part of NEQSOL Holding.
The largest Ukrainian mobile operators Kyivstar and VF Ukraine (Vodafone Ukraine) have completed the exchange of frequencies in the 2100 MHz spectrum, which made it possible to eliminate the problem of “torn” spectrum, said Olga Ustinova, CEO of the company.
“We have completed the exchange of frequencies,” Ustinova said on the sidelines of the ‘SuperHumans’ forum organized by Forbes.
“Vodafone Ukraine and Kyivstar started the exchange of frequencies in late January, with Dnipropetrovs’k region being the last to be exchanged. As a result, the companies were able to form continuous 2X20 MHz bands in the 2100 MHz band, which allowed them to reduce costs through more efficient use of the resource and speed up data transmission.
“Kyivstar acquired a license for the use of additional radio frequency spectrum in the 2100 MHz band (3G and 4G tech-neutral) at an auction held by the National Commission for the State Regulation of Electronic Communications, Radio Frequency Spectrum and Postal Services (NCCS) on November 19, 2024. The acquired frequency band was not adjacent to the company’s existing one, so the company initiated the exchange process.
At its meeting on January 15, the NCCIR approved the exchange of frequencies in the 2100 MHz spectrum between Kyivstar and Vodafone Ukraine.
Vodafone Ukraine, the country’s second-largest mobile operator, increased its revenue by 13% to UAH 5.76 billion in January-March, compared to the same period last year, while net profit decreased by 12% to UAH 915 million.
According to a post on the operator’s website on Monday, Vodafone Ukraine’s revenue grew by 8% to $151 million in dollar terms, while net profit fell by 15% to $24 million.
OIBDA grew by 12% to UAH 3.18 billion and by 7% in dollar terms to $83 million. OIBDA margin decreased by 0.5% to 55.3%.
In January-April, capital investments decreased by 35% to UAH 815 million, and by 37% to $21 million in dollar terms. The company noted that capital expenditures in this reporting period decreased amid a 26% increase to UAH 5.65 billion in 2023.
Revenues from mobile voice and data services, fixed-line services, and sales of goods/services had a positive impact on the operator’s revenue. Roaming services had a negative impact, the company said.
In the first quarter of 2024, ARPU (average monthly revenue from fixed-line voice services per subscriber) increased by 8% to UAH 112.2 due to increased consumption of data and other services.
Vodafone Ukraine’s subscriber base grew by 2.7% to 15.8 million users. At the same time, in 2023, the operator’s subscriber base grew by 3.2% to 15.9 million compared to 2022.
“Throughout the reporting period, Vodafone Ukraine has seen stable dynamics in its subscriber base and operating performance,” the report says.
As of March 31, 2024, the company’s net debt amounted to UAH 10.068 billion ($257 million). The total nominal redemption amount of 5-year Eurobonds issued in 2020 as of March 31, 2024 is $100.1 million.
Earlier, Vodafone Ukraine CEO Olga Ustinova said that the company would invest UAH 10 billion in the development of mobile and fixed networks, transition to energy-efficient GPON Internet technology, and measures to increase energy independence over the next two years.
In 2023, mobile operator Vodafone Ukraine resumed paying dividends, having not paid them in 2022, according to its annual report posted on the company’s website on Tuesday.
“In 2023, the company declared dividends to shareholders totaling UAH 1.828 billion, or UAH 2.33 per share,” the report says.
It is stated that as of December 31, 2023, all declared dividends have been paid. In particular, Telco Solutions and Investments LLC received a dividend of UAH 1.810 billion on August 9, and PPT Telecom Kyiv received a dividend of UAH 18.28 million on October 26.
As noted, Vodafone Ukraine did not pay dividends to shareholders in 2022.
Earlier it was reported that in 2023, Vodafone Ukraine increased its revenue in hryvnia by 9% to UAH 21.6 billion, while reducing it in dollars by 4% to $591 million. At the same time, net profit increased 4.6 times to UAH 5.07 billion and 4.1 times to $139 million, respectively.
