By the end of 2021, the mobile network operator Kyivstar plans to increase the base of contract clients by 500,000, President of Kyivstar Alexander Komarov told reporters on Wednesday.
At the end of 2020, the operator’s total client base was about 25.9 million mobile subscribers. At present, according to the operator, almost 90% of the Kyivstar network are prepaid mobile subscribers and the company has more than 10% are contract subscribers.
“The [number of] contract [subscribers] should grow by 500,000 new clients this year. This is a definite ambition of Kyivstar. We are generally supporters of identifying our client base and transferring it to more stable forms of connection,” Komarov said.
According to him, despite the fact that, in general, Kyivstar’s client base is stable (no more than 1% decrease year-on-year), in 2020 the prepaid subscriber base decreased 4%, which were redistributed into two segments: FMC (clients using fixed-line and mobile communication) and the contract subscribers.
“Our enemy of the contract is a very low average bill. The main means of transferring a client to a contract is a combination of a phone and payment for communication services. An average smartphone in Ukraine costs UAH 5,000-6,000, and communication services for 12 months – about UAH 1,000. Accordingly, we have very little of this added value to transfer a client to a contract. And in the gray market, the difference in price for a phone between a legal store and an online seller can reach 10-15%,” the president of Kyivstar said.
Kyivstar is a market-leading telecoms operator in Ukraine. It provides communication and data services based on a wide range of mobile and fixed-line technologies, including 3G. By the end of 2020, its services were used by about 25.9 million mobile subscribers and about 1.1 million fixed Internet customers.
The shareholder of Kyivstar is the international group VEON (earlier – VimpelCom Ltd.). The group’s shares are listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange (New York).
The mobile network operator Kyivstar in January-March 2021 increased its total revenue by 15% compared to the same period in 2020, to UAH 6.842 billion, according to a financial report of the company’s shareholder, the international Veon group.
According to data published on the official website of Veon, in the first quarter, Kyivstar increased its EBITDA by 15.3% compared to the same period last year, to UAH 4.658 billion. EBITDA margin grew by 0.2 percentage points (pp), to 68.1%.
Total operating revenue from mobile services rose by 14.9%, to UAH 6.357 billion.
According to the operator’s own report, Kyivstar accelerated the construction of high-speed data transmission networks, which resulted in a 24.3% increase in the number of 4G subscribers.
In turn, the use of mobile Internet per subscriber grew by 27.5%.
“We expect Kyivstar to continue to deliver double-digit revenue growth in the remainder of 2021,” Veon said in the financial report.
Veon said that Kyivstar’s 4G coverage in Ukraine reached 87%, (an increase of 10 pp year-over-year), and the penetration of 4G mobile communications in the operator’s network reached 38% of the total base.
The average revenue per user (ARPU) of mobile communications increased to UAH 82, or by 16.1%, the minutes of use (MoU) – by 5.1%, to 633 minutes.
The number of Kyivstar mobile customers in January-March decreased 1.15%, to 25.7 million.
“Kyivstar’s total mobile customer base showed a year-over-year decline largely due to the decline of second SIM cards in the market and lower gross additions during lockdown when the strict measures in 2Q20 resulted in the partial closure of Kyivstar stores and lower customer mobility,” Veon said.
Total operating revenue from fixed-line communication grew by 17.2%, to 451 million, broadband ARPU rose by 5.4%, to UAH 85. The number of broadband customers increased 11.5%, to 1.15 million.
Capex excluding licenses and leases (operational capex) increased by 11.7% year-over-year.
Revenue in the B2B segment grew by 6% in the first quarter of 2021, reflecting Kyivstar’s promotion of new digital solutions for its business customers and rapid growth in Big Data.
Veon said that digital adoption and usage have accelerated in the last twelve months. In Q1 2021, the number of MyKyivstar self-care users was at 2.7 million, up 76% year-over-year, while the Kyivstar TV service users increased to 414,342.
Kyivstar paid UAH 2.3 billion of taxes and duties to the national budget.
Kyivstar is a market-leading telecoms operator in Ukraine. It provides communication and data services based on a wide range of mobile and fixed-line technologies, including 3G.
The shareholder of Kyivstar is the international group VEON (earlier – VimpelCom Ltd.). The group’s shares are listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange (New York).
Mobile network operator Kyivstar has increased its 4G (LTE) network coverage in 19 regions and connected 1,195 more settlements to new mobile technologies.
According to a Wednesday report of the press service of the company, for this the operator has launched the technology of high-speed data transmission at 202 base stations.
The press service said that 493,000 residents of small settlements received the opportunity of having access to high-speed mobile Internet.
The 4G communication is supported by 23,600 Kyivstar base stations, which makes it possible for more than 87% of the Ukrainian population to access new mobile technologies.
According to the operator’s plans, by 2022, access to 4G should be provided for 90% of the population.
The mobile operator Kyivstar (Kyiv) in 2020 received UAH 10.370 billion of net profit, which is 15.72% more than in 2019, according to the announcement of the operator on holding an annual meeting of shareholders on April 29.
According to it, the company’s retained earnings for the year amounted to UAH 10.384 billion compared to UAH 12.752 billion a year earlier.
“Determine that the accumulated retained earnings of the company as of the end of 2020 are retained earnings subject to further distribution in the form of dividends (annual or interim) or any other use by decision of the general meeting of shareholders of the company,” the draft resolution of the meeting says.
According to the announcement, the long-term liabilities of Kyivstar for the year increased 2.8 times, to UAH 7.012 billion, while the current liabilities by 4.2%, to UAH 8.512 billion, and total debtor indebtedness decreased by 2.6%, to UAH 826 million.
In 2020, the company increased its fixed assets by 14.8%, to UAH 13.824 billion, its total assets increased by 10.74%, to UAH 27.013 billion.
The number of mobile subscribers of the operator in the fourth quarter of 2020 decreased by 1.3% compared to the same period in 2019, to 25.9 million, while the number of fixed-line subscribers increased by 10.9%, to 1.1 million.
Kyivstar increases income by 12.4%, EBITDA by 15.6% in 2020
The net income of Kyivstar over 2020 amounted to UAH 25.158 billion, which is 12.4% more than in 2018.
According to the company, the operator’s income from mobile services grew by 12%, to UAH 23.418 billion, and from fixed-line services by 18.7%, to UAH 1.602 billion.
In addition, EBITDA last year increased by 15.6% and amounted to UAH 16.979 billion, while EBITDA margin increased by 1.9 percentage points to 67.5%.
Capex (excluding licenses and leases) for the year increased by 22.1% and amounted to UAH 4.851 billion.
Kyivstar’s total mobile customer base in the fourth quarter of 2020 decreased by 1.3% compared to the same period in 2019, to 25.9 million, while the number of fixed-line subscribers increased by 10.9%, to 1.1 million.
“Kyivstar’s total mobile customer base showed a y-o-y decline of 1.3%, to 25.9 million users due to the decline of second SIM cards in the market and lower gross additions during lockdown when the strict measures resulted in the partial closure of Kyivstar stores,” the company said.
According to Kyivstar, in the fourth quarter of 2020 the number of mobile Internet users reached 17.1 million, which is 1.3% more than in the fourth quarter of 2019. At the same time, the number of subscribers using 4G Internet increased by 30% over the year. The growth in the 4G users and the associated increase in data usage contributed to an ARPU increase of 16,9%, to UAH 80 y-o-y.
Users in 2020 increased the usage of mobile Internet and voice services. Thus, in the fourth quarter of 2020, the average consumption of data traffic per subscriber was 6.1 GB, which is 43% more than a year earlier.
Usage of voice traffic per subscriber for the specified period amounted to 651 minutes, or 12.7% more than in the same period last year.
In the fourth quarter of 2020, the operator’s income increased by 15.2%, to UAH 6.697 billion. Of these, UAH 6.229 billion accounted for income from mobile services (more by 15%), and UAH 430 million for income from fixed-line services (more by 21.3%). EBITDA during this period increased by 10.4%, to UAH 4.452 billion, the margin decreased by 2.8 percentage points, to 66.5%.
Capital investments in the fourth quarter of 2020 amounted to UAH 1.251 billion, which is 25.9% more than in the fourth quarter of 2019.
Over the past year, Kyivstar transferred taxes and other payments to the state budget for a total of UAH 9.3 billion.
In addition, since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Kyivstar has provided assistance to society and subscribers for UAH 80 million – free communication services, benefits for health workers, the purchase of ventilators for a number of medical institutions, and much more.
The mobile operator Kyivstar has analyzed the popularity of messengers, social networks and platforms among Ukrainians.
According to the company’s report, the study used generalized and anonymized data on mobile data traffic in the operator’s network.
According to the operator, Viber is the most popular messenger among Kyivstar subscribers – 12 million subscribers of the operator use it monthly. Next in the ranking are Facebook Messenger with 11 million users, Telegram with 6 million and WhatsApp with about 5 million.
“The most popular social platforms are Facebook and YouTube, they are monthly used by about 13 million Kyivstar subscribers. Instagram is used by 10 million people. Unexpectedly, Twitter ranks third with 7 million, and TikTok closes the list of leaders with 5.5 million,” Kyivstar said.
According to the report, on average, the operator’s subscribers spend the most time on TikTok – 88 minutes a day. And every tenth user spends more than 4 hours a day in this application.
YouTube is watched an average of 54 minutes a day, and 44 minutes is spent on Facebook.
Kyivstar subscribers actively use social networks in the evening, from 18:00 to 22:00, as well as in the afternoon, from 12:00 to 13:00.
Expectedly, the largest amount of mobile Internet per month is used when watching YouTube – an average of 2.5 GB per subscriber, TikTok ranks second place with 0.6 GB, and Instagram – 0.4 GB.
