In 2022, Vodafone Ukraine reduced its net income by 2% to UAH 19.8 billion, having received a net profit of UAH 1.1 billion, the press service of the mobile operator reported on Friday.
According to a press release, OIBDA (Operating Income Before Depreciation and Amortization) of Vodafone Ukraine in 2022 grew by 3% and amounted to UAH 11.3 billion, OIBDA margin rose by 2.5 p.p. to 56.9%.
“The company’s revenue in 2022 was UAH 19.8 billion. A decrease of 2% compared to the previous year is due to a decrease in the number of mobile network users. Vodafone’s net profit in 2022 was UAH 1.1 billion. The decrease in the indicator… is due to losses from exchange rate differences received as a result of the growth of the exchange rate of the U.S. dollar against the hryvnia by 34%,” the company said.
Most Vodafone Ukraine mobile users lived in the east and south of Ukraine. In connection with the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation and the hostilities that disabled a number of mobile communication networks in the temporarily occupied territories and directly in the war zone, Vodafone lost the most subscribers of all Ukrainian operators – 3.5 million users, the company said in the report.
As of the end of 2022, Vodafone had 15.4 million customers.
Currently over 2.2 million users remain abroad and continue using Vodafone services.
“Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Vodafone has been supporting Ukrainians who seek protection in European countries and provides the free connection to the Affordable Roaming service in most tariffs. The service provides 10GB of mobile Internet and 100 minutes for calls with subscribers in Ukraine and the country of residence, subject to paid Ukrainian package,” the company said, specifying that the Affordable Roaming offer is used by 87% of all customers staying in the roaming zone.
Data services are used by 71% of all Vodafone customers, while the mobile Internet usage has grown by 1.5 times, the company said.
Despite the impact of the war on the company’s revenues in 2022, Vodafone Ukraine maintained business stability, not reducing but increasing the volume of investments in developing and supporting the country’s telecom infrastructure. At the same time, it was possible to enhance business efficiency and the penetration of digital services, the company said in the press release.
Vodafone increased capital investments to UAH 3.6 billion in 2022.
“Thanks to this, Vodafone engineers restored the destroyed infrastructure, quickly repaired equipment, developed the network, and ensured the availability of communications in blackout conditions. During the year, the company’s engineers returned to the air about 800 villages and cities, carrying out about 2,960 repair trips, including in close proximity to the front line,” the company said.
Vodafone did not stop the development of the network. In 2022, the company’s specialists paid special attention to expanding capacity and coverage in regions of mass migration. In general, since the beginning of the war, 4,000 4G base stations have been launched.
Significant resources of the company were sent to ensure the availability of communications in the conditions of power outages due to targeted attacks by the Russian Federation on energy infrastructure facilities. Vodafone purchased 414 mobile generators, and the company’s engineers replaced 24,712 batteries. To ensure the operation of alternative power sources, 519 tonnes of diesel fuel were used.
The company said that today 88% of the network is operating well.
