Kyivstar, Ukraine’s largest mobile operator, is interested in expanding its digital growth strategy by entering the digital banking market and is engaged in discussions with the National Bank of Ukraine, company representatives said during a conference call on Friday regarding its 2025 financial results.
“If you look at the portfolio of Sasha (Kyivstar President and CEO Alexander Komarov) and Boris (CFO Boris Dolgushin), you’ll see one obvious element that’s missing, namely digital banking. “I think this is the part that inspires us all for the next few years,” said Kaan Terzioglu, chairman of Kyivstar’s supervisory board and CEO of VEON, the company’s majority owner.
“We’re working on it. We are in dialogue with the National Bank of Ukraine. We want to resolve this issue, but, of course, you know, we want to combine this with a very clear strategy,” Komarov noted in turn.
According to him, the question is what role Kyivstar wants to play, because there are different types of licenses and different approaches.
“So for us, this is… not just a matter of regulation; it’s also a matter of the right strategy for entering this segment,” emphasized Kyivstar’s President and CEO.
As reported, Kyivstar served 22.4 million mobile subscribers and 1.2 million “Home Internet” subscribers as of the end of 2025. In 2025, the company increased its EBITDA by 30% to UAH 27 billion, with revenue growing by 30.3% to UAH 48.2 billion; including a 23.1% increase in EBITDA to UAH 7.2 billion in the fourth quarter of last year, with revenue growing by 30.1% to UAH 13.5 billion.
Kyivstar, Ukraine’s largest mobile operator, has acquired the regional internet provider Shtorm LLC (Shtorm) in the Kirovohrad region, which serves over 50,000 subscribers, for 420 million UAH, announced Kyivstar CEO and President Oleksandr Komarov.
“This acquisition brings over 50,000 new broadband customers in 130 municipalities into the Kyivstar ecosystem, supporting our strategy to expand our broadband network,” he said during a conference call regarding the company’s annual report on Friday.
“In the fixed broadband market, we aim to strengthen the group’s leadership through organic growth and acquisitions,” Komarov emphasized regarding the company’s future development strategy.
He noted that cross-selling and synergies are at the core of Kyivstar’s digital growth strategy. According to him, for example, in the fourth quarter, the share of broadband customers subscribed to Kyivstar TV grew by more than 3 percentage points (pp) to 48%.
“We attribute this growth to effective marketing and the increasing appeal of our content library, including programs unavailable elsewhere in Ukraine,” Komarov noted.
He noted that the number of multi-service customers (including customers who use at least one digital application in addition to voice and data services) grew by 18% year-over-year in the fourth quarter of 2025, reaching 7.3 million, or 35% of the active customer base in a single month, which is nearly 6 percentage points higher than a year earlier.
“The multi-service segment is driving growth thanks to stronger customer engagement, higher data consumption, and improved customer retention. They (such customers) also generate a higher ARPU—$5.20 per month for our services, which is 37% higher than the average for a mobile customer,” noted the company’s president.
Kyivstar announced the acquisition of Shtorm in late February. At the time, it was noted that this provider offers coverage in the Kirovohrad region, covering the cities of Kropyvnytskyi, Oleksandriia, and 132 surrounding settlements. The press release did not include information on the purchase price of the provider.
According to data from YouControl, the revenue of Isp Storm LLC for the first nine months of 2025 increased 4.7-fold compared to the first nine months of 2024—to 94.86 million UAH—while net profit jumped 17-fold—to 30.39 million UAH.
The beneficiaries of the company, which has a registered capital of 4.5 million UAH, were Vitaliy Oliynyk and Yulia Makarenko on an equal basis.
Kyivstar emphasized that the deal preserves the provider’s workforce of more than 100 employees, including engineers, designers, and customer service specialists, who will continue to be responsible for network maintenance and subscriber support in the region.
In August of last year, Kyivstar first announced the $2 million acquisition in September 2024 of LanTrace (Boryspil)—a regional provider of fixed broadband internet access in the Kyiv region.
As reported, Kyivstar served 22.4 million mobile subscribers and 1.2 million “Home Internet” subscribers as of the end of 2025. In 2025, the company increased its EBITDA by 30% to 27 billion UAH, with revenue growing by 30.3% to 48.2 billion UAH; including in the fourth quarter of last year, when EBITDA increased by 23.1% to UAH 7.2 billion, with revenue growing by 30.1% to UAH 13.5 billion.
Kyivstar, Ukraine’s largest telecommunications operator, which this year acquired the digital medical goods service Tabletki.ua (MTPK LLC) for an amount equivalent to $160 million, plans to launch pilot joint products this year between this service and the Helsi medical information system, which is also owned Kyivstar, and subsequently integrate the Uklon taxi-hailing and delivery service, which the operator acquired early last year for the equivalent of $155 million, Kyivstar CEO and President Oleksandr Komarov announced.
“This vision begins with patients and doctors using the Helsi app. We want them to be able to select and book … medications or pharmaceutical products within a single customer journey, and if necessary, Uklon will deliver them to the patient,” he said during a conference call regarding Kyivstar’s 2025 financial results on Friday evening.
“Our specific plan is to launch pilot projects for certain MVPs (Minimum Viable Products) between Helsi and Tabletki this year. With a clear strategy that we will present to the Kyivstar Group supervisory board sometime in the fourth quarter of 2026,” Komarov noted.
According to him, the group is currently very focused on integrating the acquired businesses.
“We want to integrate from various perspectives, because integrating local businesses into a public company is a challenge. And then we will focus on development strategies and synergies between Helsi and Tabletki, between Uklon and Tabletki, and between Kyivstar and Tabletki.
According to the report, Helsi increased its revenue in the fourth quarter of 2025 by 67.8%—to 95 million UAH, and for the year as a whole, it reached 311 million UAH. The number of active specialists and doctors on the platform grew by 7.5% over the year—to over 42,000—while the number of healthcare facilities increased by 4%—to over 1,700. Although the number of appointments made by patients through the platform decreased by 1.4% last year—to 2.4 million—the number of monthly active users (MAU) grew by 6.7%—to 2.5 million—and the number of paying subscribers increased 3.8-fold, to over 57,000.
The online taxi service Uklon, which was consolidated into Kyivstar’s financial statements in April 2025, generated UAH 3.35 billion in revenue over the last three quarters of last year, with EBITDA of UAH 1.1 billion, including UAH 1.42 billion and UAH 386 million in the fourth quarter, respectively.
The number of Uklon rides in the fourth quarter of 2025 increased by 8.6% compared to the fourth quarter of the previous year—to 43.6 million—while deliveries rose by 21.7% to 1.3 million, and the MAU figure stood at 3.8 million.
The Tabletki service partners with over 14,000 pharmacies across Ukraine and, according to 2025 data, processed 14 million online orders per month.
Komarov was unable to specify Uklon’s market share due to the market’s opacity, but emphasized that the company is clearly the leader, while Bolt and Uber rank second and third, respectively.
According to the head of Kyivstar, Uklon’s business is growing thanks to the continued penetration of ride-sharing services and an increase in market share, as well as the development of an advertising business—built virtually from scratch—at a rate of 100% per year.
“We have our own strategy—let’s call it a modern mobility strategy—centered on Uklon: we want Uklon to expand into the mobility segment. We are already conducting some experiments with special buses for the most popular routes, for example, to Bukovel, … some experiments on how to develop an ecosystem of modern mobility services around the clock,” Komarov said.
When asked about the launch of the Uklon website in Kazakhstan, the head of Kyivstar emphasized that no decisions regarding international expansion have been made yet; outside of Ukraine, the business is currently developing only in Uzbekistan. “We are satisfied with the current results, but we want to be sure that our model of international expansion is sufficiently proven based on the synergy between the telecommunications business and the ride-hailing business,” Komarov explained.
Kyivstar, Ukraine’s largest mobile operator, increased its EBITDA in 2025 by 30% to UAH 27 billion, which is a 25.8% increase in US dollars to $648 million, according to the company’s annual report on Friday.
“We continue to invest in Ukraine’s digital future, maintaining our market leadership and executing our long-term strategy as a digital operator,” Kyivstar CEO and President Alexander Komarov said in the document.
According to the Kyivstar Group Ltd report, the company increased its revenue in 2025 by 30.3% compared to 2024, to UAH 48.2 billion, and in dollars, the growth was 25.9%, to $1.157 billion.
Adjusted net income for 2025 increased by 1.1% to $286 million (in hryvnia, the growth was 3.9%), and earnings per share were $1.32.
At the same time, unadjusted net profit decreased by 56.2% to $124 million (by 54.7% in hryvnia), earnings per share to $0.57, and the difference with the adjusted figures was due to non-cash expenses of $162 million related to the listing of Kyivstar in the third quarter of 2025.
The company specified that in the fourth quarter of last year, it increased EBITDA by 23.1% to UAH 7.2 billion, with revenue growing by 30.1% to UAH 13.5 billion, while in dollars, EBITDA grew by 21.7% to $172 million, and revenue grew by 28.4% to $321 million.
Net profit in the fourth quarter of 2025 decreased by 3.2% to $90 million (by 2.2% in hryvnia).
According to the report, Kyivstar increased its net cash flow from operating activities by 29.8% to $558 million (34.2% in hryvnia) last year, and its capital investments amounted to $351 million, including $128 million in the fourth quarter.
It is noted that revenue from digital platforms in 2025 increased 4.9 times to UAH 5.2 billion, and in dollars, this growth was 4.7 times to $124 million, reaching 10.7% in the revenue structure.
In particular, in the fourth quarter of 2025, revenue from digital platforms jumped 6.4 times to UAH 2.1 billion, or 6.1 times in dollars to $50 million, reaching 15.7% of total revenue.
The number of Kyivstar multiplay customers grew by 18% last year to 7.3 million, or 35% of the number of active mobile customers during one month, while the total number of mobile subscribers decreased from 23 million to 22 million, and the number of fixed-line subscribers increased from 1.1 million to 1.2 million.
At the same time, ARPU for the past year increased by 19.3% to $3.6 (by 23.5% in hryvnia).
The report also states that the total number of monthly active digital users reached 15 million by the end of 2025 (13.5 million in the third quarter). In particular, Uklon had 3.8 million users (3.6 million), Helsi had 2.5 million (2.5 million), KyivstarTV had 2.5 million (2.1 million), and MyKyivstar had 6.2 million (5.2 million).
The online taxi service Uklon, which was consolidated into Kyivstar’s financial statements in April 2025, generated UAH 3.4 billion or $80.2 million in revenue last year, with EBITDA of UAH 1.1 billion or $27.6 million.
In the fourth quarter of 2025, Uklon generated revenue of UAH 1.4 billion or $33.7 million, with EBITDA of UAH 386 million or $9.2 million.
The number of Uklon trips in 2025 amounted to 166.6 million, deliveries – 4.7 million, including 43.6 million and 1.3 million in the fourth quarter.
It is noted that KyivstarTV generated revenue of UAH 351 million, or $8.4 million, in the fourth quarter of 2025, with the number of user sessions increasing by 25.4% to 891 million, and the time spent per user per active day increasing by 6.9% to 257 million.
The Helsi medical information system increased its revenue in the fourth quarter of 2025 by UAH 95 million, or $2.3 million. The number of active specialists and doctors in the program increased by 7.5% to more than 42,000, healthcare facilities by 4% to more than 1,700, appointments made by patients through the platform reached 2.4 million, and the number of solvent customers exceeded 57,000.
In the fourth quarter of 2025, Kyivstar’s big data and cloud services generated UAH 250 million in revenue, up 66.5% from the previous year. The report states that the growth was driven by large-scale products and solutions for big data analytics, advertising technologies (AdTech), cloud productivity and collaboration services, as well as API-based connectivity and data exchange services.
Kyivstar Cloud introduced a range of services enhanced with practical applications of artificial intelligence (AI), as well as an additional service that provides expert advice on adapting AI-based solutions to specific business needs.
The company specified that the number of registered customers of the AdTech Adwisor self-service platform increased from over 3,500 at the end of the third quarter of 2025 to over 3,800 at the end of the year.
Kyivstar expects revenue growth of 15%-18% and EBITDA growth of 12%-15% in hryvnia in 2026, while in dollars – 8%-11% and 5%-8%, respectively.
Capital expenditure intensity for 2026 is expected to be 23%-26% of revenue, compared to 30.3% in 2025.
The company recalled that in February it acquired Tabletki.ua, a leading Ukrainian online platform for the sale of medicines and medical products, for $160 million, and the internet provider Shtorm.
VEON, the majority shareholder of the Kyivstar group, and some other shareholders sold 14.375 million shares at a price of $10.5 per share for a total of $150.9 million as part of a secondary public offering (SPO). As a result, VEON’s stake in Kyivstar decreased from 89.6% to 83.6% following the SPO.
Mykhailo Nestor is stepping down as Director of Digital Products at Kyivstar, Ukraine’s largest mobile operator, after seven years with the company.
“I am happy that I was able to build a product company from scratch with a wonderful team according to the highest standards within a huge (in my opinion, the best in Ukraine) corporation,” Nestor wrote on Facebook.
According to him, he is also leaving his position as Chief Product Officer at the IT company Kyivstar.Tech.
“I did much more than I planned, but, of course, less than I would have liked — there are always more ideas,” Nestor emphasized.
In a comment to DOU, he said that he plans to move into the deftech sphere, but it is not yet known which company he will join.
Nestor’s personal Facebook page notes that from April 2018 to May 2019, he held the position of Product Management at the DreamTeam esports platform, and then in March 2022, he became a co-founder of the KOLO charitable foundation.
Kyivstar, Ukraine’s largest mobile operator, has signed an agreement to acquire 100% of the shares of the digital medical goods service Tabletki.ua (MTPC LLC) for the hryvnia equivalent of $160 million, according to a press release issued by the company on Tuesday.
“We will be able to combine Kyivstar’s successful experience in digital business management and development with Tabletki.ua’s strong foundation to make digital medical services more accessible to a wider audience and ensure the best convenience for everyone,” said Kyivstar President and CEO Alexander Komarov.
Kyivstar Group shares on the Nasdaq rose 2% on Tuesday to $2.5 per share.
According to YouControl, the owners of MTPC LLC are Alexander, Natalia, and Yevgeny Muravshchiki (23%, 23%, and 10%, respectively), Yuri Savin (20%), Vladimir Osmachko (15%), and Vadim Rogatinsky (9%).
In its presentation of the deal, Kyivstar pointed to potential synergies with other businesses in its group: the development of a digital health ecosystem, the enrichment of mobile data to increase user engagement and accessibility.
“Synergy between Kyivstar (telecommunications company), Helsi (largest provider of SaaS services in the field of electronic health), Uklon (delivery), and Tabletki.ua (leading market for medicines) to provide significant benefits to customers,” the document says.
It is noted that the service cooperates with more than 14,000 pharmacies throughout Ukraine and, according to 2025 data, provided 14 million online orders per month.
The operator specified that, according to unaudited management reports, Tabletki.ua’s EBITDA profit grew by 34% to UAH 755 million in the first nine months of 2025, while in 2024 it grew by 86% to UAH 810 million.
In dollar terms, EBITDA increased by 29% over nine months to $18 million, compared to 69.4% in 2024 to $20 million.
The company’s net profit for the first nine months of last year amounted to UAH 682 million ($16 million) compared to UAH 707 million ($17.6 million) for the whole of last year, while the total value of goods (GMV – gross merchandise value) booked through the platform amounted to UAH 43 billion ($1.034 billion) and UAH 45 billion ($1.056 billion), respectively. According to the presentation, 85% of the company’s revenue comes from transactions and subscriptions, while another 12.2% comes from advertising.
Kyivstar specified that as of the end of September 2025, the 12-month (LTM) GMV was UAH 57.3 billion ($1.191 billion), EBITDA was UAH 1 billion ($24 million), and net profit was UAH 836 million ($20 million).
Thus, Tabletki.ua’s EV/EBITDA ratio was 6.7 times, and its P/E ratio was 8 times. In 2025, Kyivstar closed a deal to acquire 97% of Uklon’s corporate rights for $155.2 million, with the EV/EBITDA multiple of that deal being approximately the same.
As reported, at the end of January this year, the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU) allowed Kyivstar to acquire control over the Tabletki.ua service, although Kyivstar submitted its first application to acquire MTPC back in November 2024.
In the third quarter of 2025, Kyivstar received EBITDA of UAH 7.1 billion, which is 21.5% more than in the third quarter of 2024, and in dollars, the growth was 20.4% – to $171 million.
