Ukrtelecom, Ukraine’s largest fixed-line operator, reported revenue of UAH 5 billion in 2023, down 10% year-on-year, according to its unaudited financial statements.
According to the company’s press release on Monday, its EBITDA last year amounted to more than UAH 1 billion, while its EBITDA margin decreased by 1.3 percentage points (p.p.) to 21.1%.
The report notes that the company’s losses from the consequences of Russian aggression amounted to UAH 2.8 billion and were mainly due to the economic impairment of operating assets and the loss of assets in the temporarily occupied territories in the amount of over UAH 700 million. In particular, the hostilities damaged about 260 of the company’s buildings and destroyed about 50 of them.
Ukrtelecom’s capital investments in 2023 amounted to more than UAH 500 million, while despite the war, the company continued to implement projects to build an optical network and invest in the security of its own infrastructure against cyberattacks, the company said in a statement.
During the reporting period, almost 5.3 thousand kilometers of fiber-optic cable were laid, and by the end of 2023, the company provided more than 2 million households in all regions of the country with the opportunity to use modern optical network services. In general, the company’s optical Internet user base grew by 15% compared to 2022, which ensured an 18% increase in revenues in this segment, the report says.
In 2023, Ukrtelecom invested UAH 20 million to restore 430 km of optical lines and 16 km of copper lines, and restored the functioning of 10 regional communication hubs. Ukrtelecom’s optical infrastructure connected more than 150 medical and 185 educational institutions. In total, more than 1.25 thousand medical and almost 1.7 thousand educational institutions have access to high-speed optical Internet. As of February 24, 2022, 90% of the company’s national coverage was provided with Internet access.
Income from commercial rental of real estate freed up by the network modernization amounted to over UAH 500 million, which is 35% more than in 2022.
It is also noted that in 2023 Ukrtelecom paid more than UAH 1.35 billion in taxes and fees to the budgets of all levels, donating about UAH 210 million in charity to the needs of the defenders. As part of the Rinat Akhmetov’s Steel Front initiative, the company has donated dozens of UAVs, including Valkyrie and Leleka unmanned aerial systems, hundreds of drones, thousands of special command and control equipment, medical supplies and hundreds of vehicles.
Almost 400 Ukrtelecom employees are serving in the Ukrainian Armed Forces, the press release says.
“Ukrtelecom is the largest fixed-line operator in Ukraine. A large part of its customers are government agencies, educational, administrative and medical institutions, and emergency services. The company is a provider of high-speed fixed-line Internet with the widest coverage. Ukrtelecom’s Internet access is available in almost 4,000 settlements across the country and is available in 90% of them. Ukrtelecom is also the sole shareholder and founder of TriMob LLC, a provider of UMTS/WCDMA mobile services.
In 2013, the company joined SCM’s business.
Ukrtelecom’s revenue in the first nine months of 2023 amounted to UAH 3.14 billion, down 6.1% year-on-year. Net profit amounted to UAH 242.39 million compared to a loss of UAH 755.18 million in 9M2022.
