In July-September 2023, Ukraine’s largest mobile operator Kyivstar increased its 4G network coverage, built 600 new base stations and modernized 1.5 thousand base stations, its press service reports.
“In the third quarter of 2023, Kyivstar’s team built another 600 new 4G base stations and modernized almost 1.5 thousand mobile base stations. Another 54 settlements were connected to the 4G network. Currently, Kyivstar’s 4G service is available to 94.7% of the population in the government-controlled areas,” the company said in a statement.
It is also reported that Kyivstar’s capital expenditures for this period exceeded UAH 3.7 billion, which is why more than 99% of the communication network in the government-controlled territory is operating normally. The company plans to invest $600 million in the development of new communication technologies over the next three years.
According to the operator, in the third quarter of this year, subscribers increased the use of mobile Internet services by 17.7% compared to the same period last year. At the same time, the number of 4G users grew by 13.1% to 13.7 million, which was made possible by the development of the 4G network and the proposed tariffs with more megabytes.
At the same time, it is noted that the total number of subscribers in the third quarter decreased by 1.1% due to the impact of war factors, including migration outside the country and the temporary occupation of a number of settlements.
According to the press service, Kyivstar continued to develop digital services for online education, health care, and Kyivstar TV digital television services. According to the company, the number of subscribers using multiservice services increased by 21.4% in the third quarter.
In addition, Kyivstar continued to implement charity projects to help subscribers and Ukrainian society. In particular, the project “We live here” is being implemented, which aims to clear the territory of Ukraine of explosive devices. Thanks to the company’s services, UAH 120 million was raised for this project. At the same time, the operator’s contribution directly exceeded UAH 20 million.
Earlier it was reported that Kyivstar would focus on the development of LTE technology (Long Term Evolution is a wireless network with increased requirements and a bandwidth of 10 Mbps or more.) By 2026, the coverage level in Ukraine will be brought up to 98%.
The Kyivstar mobile operator since February 2022 has upgraded 3,000 base stations in small towns and villages with a population of up to 2,000 people by connecting LTE-900 technology to them, the company’s press service reported on Monday.
“Thanks to this, the network capacity has been increased and the quality of 4G has been improved in 3,500 settlements in 19 regions of Ukraine. Among them are Vinnytsia, Dnipropetrovsk, Zhytomyr, Zakarpattia, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kyiv, Lviv, Odesa, Poltava, Sumy and other regions of Ukraine where no active hostilities are taking place,” the statement said.
The operator notes that also in 2022, some 140 new base stations were built. And to improve the quality of communication in regions of intensive data traffic, the development of frequencies in the 2300 MHz range, received from the state for the period of wartime in the country, began.
According to Kyivstar, since the beginning of the war, almost 5 million of the company’s subscribers have moved from large cities to small towns within their region, and another 4 million have moved from other regions to the western regions of Ukraine. In this regard, the operator increases the network capacity and improves the quality of radio coverage in places where Internet traffic is growing.
“Since the outbreak of hostilities, the telecom operator’s specialists have eliminated thousands of emergencies that arose as a result of damage to the telecommunications infrastructure, replaced almost 30,000 meters of destroyed fiber-optic lines, carried out 3,500 repairs on cell towers. More than 90% of the telecom infrastructure is operating normally, providing communications and high-speed Internet for the needs of subscribers, the public sector and private companies,” the company said.
In September, the mobile operator lifecell connected 377 more settlements to 4G, where a total of 134,000 people live.
According to the company’s press service on Monday, out of the indicated number of settlements in 376 settlements up to 5,000 people live and in one – up to 25,000 people.
The operator also notes that as of the end of September, the operator’s 4G coverage is available in 12,889 settlements, where more than 28 million Ukrainians live.
With the network roll-out, the consumption of mobile Internet has also increased: last month lifecell subscribers used 56% more 4G traffic on an annual basis.
In September, lifecell users spent 11% more time on social networks, 31% more watched videos on YouTube and 42% more often communicated in instant messengers, compared to the same period in 2020.
At the same time, Ukrainians did not cut their calls to each other: the amount of voice traffic in lifecell network grew by 6% on an annual basis.
In Ukraine, lifecell is the third largest mobile operator.
The Kyivstar mobile operator in January-June 2021 launched 4G in 2,634 settlements, where about 1.2 million people live, the company’s press service said.
Kyivstar notes that by the end of the year it plans to provide at least 89% of the entire population of Ukraine with high-speed Internet.
“Due to the fact that in July last year, Kyivstar began using 900 MHz frequencies to expand its 4G network, it was possible to significantly increase the coverage in rural areas. First of all, in small villages with 2,000 inhabitants or even less. Now about 12 million villagers have access to 4G, and in cities – 22 million people,” the statement reads.
According to the head of regional marketing of Kyivstar, Mykhailo Mykoliuk, since the beginning of 2021, the operator has installed almost 3,000 new base stations with 4G.
In total, Kyivstar’s 4G network currently operates in more than 15,000 cities and villages of Ukraine. And by the end of the year, Kyivstar plans to increase their total number to 16,000.
In March 2021, mobile operator lifecell expanded its 4G network coverage in 661 more settlements of Ukraine with a population of more than 358,000 people.
According to the operator’s statement on Wednesday, in particular, in March the lifecell network was expanded in 655 towns with a population of up to 5,000 people and in six cities with a population of up to 25,000 people in different regions of Ukraine.
The operator also analyzed the consumption of data traffic in March: lifecell subscribers using 4G consumed 82% more mobile Internet traffic compared to the same period in 2020.
At the same time, the total volume of used data traffic in the operator’s network in March increased by 49% on an annual basis.
“One of the main reasons for the traffic growth is the expansion of coverage in the 900 MHz range, which became possible after the operators carried out refarming of the radio frequency spectrum in this range. This made it possible for residents of rural areas and small towns to use high-speed mobile Internet,” lifecell said.
Kyiv became the leader among settlements in terms of consumption of mobile Internet traffic in March in the category of cities with a population of more than 1 million, and then it is followed by Odesa, Kharkiv and Dnipro.
In cities with a population of up to 1 million people, Lviv is in the lead, and with a population of up to 500,000 people – Cherkasy.
The number of voice calls did not change compared to March 2020.
The mobile operator Vodafone Ukraine during the first quarter of 2021 launched a high-speed mobile Internet network in more than 550 settlements of Ukraine.
According to the company’s press service on Thursday, to date, Odesa, Dnipropetrovsk, Ternopil, Volyn, Sumy, Vinnytsia, Kherson, Poltava, Cherkasy and Lviv regions are among the top ten regions in terms of 4G network speed.
Among the regional centers, the “fastest” cities were ranked as follows: Mykolaiv, Chernihiv, Rivne, Vinnytsia, Kherson, Dnipro, Odesa, Lviv, Zaporizhia and Cherkasy.
Vodafone Ukraine is the second largest mobile network operator in Ukraine.
