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Wireless Federation » archive for 'Ukraine'

Alcatel-Lucent supports CDMA Ukraine (Ukraine)

  • June 9th, 2008
  • 2:52 pm

Alcatel-Lucent has signed a contract with Ukrainian CDMA network operator International Telecommunication Company (ITC), which operates under the brand CDMA Ukraine, to provide an end-to-end solution based on next-generation wireless transmission technology. According to a press release, the microwave-based solution will help ITC optimise the delivery of existing services and quickly enable advanced mobile multimedia applications for its 100,000-plus subscriber base across 17 Ukrainian regions. Alca-Lu will deliver enhanced Ethernet backhaul capabilities for maximised network efficiency and increased backhaul capacity for ITC’s CDMA network. The project is scheduled for completion by the end of 2008.

   

 

 

Kyivstar completes traffic capacity upgrade

  • May 28th, 2008
  • 2:41 pm

Ukraine’s largest cellco by subscribers Kyivstar has completed an upgrade of its nationwide network using DWDM technology , giving it an eight-fold increase in maximum traffic capacity to 320Gbps, the company said in a press release.The project, which took two years, allows Kyivstar to serve four million mobile users simultaneously within two network units, whilst protecting mobile traffic from malfunction, according to the operator. Kyivstar, majority-owned by Norway’s Telenor, had 23.69 million GSM subscribers at the end of March, up by 7.9% year-on-year, giving it a 46.3% market share.

   

 

 

 

Telenor sued……. again

  • April 19th, 2008
  • 9:20 am

Norwegian telecoms group Telenor’s Russian unit is being sued for USD3.8 billion in a Siberian court by a minority shareholder in Russian mobile network operator Vimpelcom. It follows a nearly identical claim for USD1 billion made by Eco Telecom, part of Russia’s Alfa Group, in March. A Telenor news release said ‘The lawsuit’s claims against Telenor are that Telenor harmed Vimpelcom by preventing Vimpelcom from purchasing [Ukranian mobile operator] Kyivstar and delaying Vimpelcom’s purchase of [another GSM operator] Ukrainian Radio Systems’. The latest suit was filed by Farimex Products, a British Virgin Islands company, but court records did not reveal who owns the company. Farimex only owns shares worth USD800,000 making it hard to see how it can justify claiming USD3.8 billion in damages.

In August 2007 Telenor won an arbitration case in a New York court, which ordered Alfa Group to either sell its 43.5% share in Kyivstar or reduce stakes in certain other competing operators. Alfa chose to comply with the latter option by reducing its minority stake in Turkey’s Turkcell (the majority owner of Ukrainian cellco Astelit), and agreeing to sell its entire stake in WiMAX operator Ukrainian High Technologies (aka Alternet). Telenor owns 56.5% of Kyivstar, and holds 33.6% of the common stock of Vimpelcom, which is 37% owned by Alfa through its telecoms arm Altimo.

   
 

Russia’s Altimo sues Telenor over Ukraine

  • March 26th, 2008
  • 2:36 pm

Altimo, the telecoms arm of Russian private equity group Alfa, had filed a €639.5 million (US$1 billion) lawsuit against Norwegian operator Telenor because it delayed Vimpelcom’s entry to Ukraine, a Reuters report said.

The lawsuit arose from Telenor allegedly breaching a shareholder agreement concerning Vimpelcom, Russia’s second largest mobile operator.

The lawsuit was filed by Alfa’s subsidiary Eco Telecom with an international arbitration tribunal in Geneva, according to the Reuters report: Alfa has been locked in a legal dispute with Telenor for years over the direction of Vimpelcom, in which Alfa holds 44% of voting stock to Telenor’s 30%.

Telenor also owns 56.5% of Kyivstar, Ukraine’s leading mobile phone company and Alfa has the remainder.

Altimo said Eco Telecom assessed losses to Vimpelcom shareholders to stand at €1.72 billion (US$2.7 billion) because of the actions taken by Telenor to prevent Vimpelcom’s expansion into Ukraine – namely acquiring Ukrainian RadioSystems , a mobile operator competing with Telenor-controlled Kyivstar.

Alfa recently lost two arbitration proceedings brought by Telenor related to Vimpelcom and Kyivstar, the report concluded.

   
 

Comstar signs up Cisco for Ukraine network (Russia)

  • January 25th, 2008
  • 11:46 am

Russian operator Comstar has signed a partnership with Cisco for the delivery of equipment for a new multi-service network in Ukraine. A Sitronics subsidiary, Kvazar Mikro, will be the subcontractor for the installation and launch of the network. In December 2007, Comstar completed the tender for equipment to build and modernize the backbone transportation network in Ukraine and city multi-service communications networks in Kiev and Odessa. Initially, the Russian telecommunications operator will install Cisco’s hub router and backbone router and also aggregation and network management equipment in centres in Kiev and Odessa, after which other cities will be added to the backbone infrastructure. The initiative is scheduled to be launched in Q2. Comstar plans to use the network to provide its private clients with triple-play services and its corporate clients with virtual private networks, telephony and high-speed broadband. By 2011, the number of subscribers is estimated to exceed 125,000 in Kiev and Odessa.

   

Airspan deploys MicroMAX products in Ukraine (Ukraine)

  • January 16th, 2008
  • 2:17 pm

Airspan Networks deploys its MicroMAX products in the 5 GHz frequency band in the Ukraine. Ten national and regional carriers have won frequency licences in the 5 GHz band during the recent competitive tenders carried out by the Ukraine National Committee of Telecommunications Regulations and are now beginning to deploy WiMAX networks. Airspan is currently supplying five of these carriers with its WiMAX network equipment. Airspan is offering commercial services in Odessa, Lviv, Zaporojie and Donetsk. WiMAX networks in the 5 GHz band are also planned in other Ukrainian cities.

   

Kyvstar reports 23.6 million subscribers on 1 January 2008 (Ukraine)

  • January 11th, 2008
  • 2:12 pm

Ukraine-based mobile operator Kyivstar reports 23.604 million subscribers as of 1 January, up frm 23.155 million a month earlier. The operator had 1.241 million contract and corporate subscribers on 1 January, compared to 1.228 million on 1 December. The number of prepaid customers rose to 12.37 million from 12.147 million in December, and Djuice subscriptions increased to 9.195 million from 9.058 million a month earlier.

   

MTS adds 1.09 mln customers in November (Russia)

  • December 20th, 2007
  • 9:11 am

Russian mobile operator Mobile TeleSystems has seen its total subscriber base in Russia and the CIS reach 80.21 million users at end-November. During the month the company added 1.09 million customers representing a growth of 1.4 percent. In Russia, MTS added 860,000 new subscribers to reach a total of 56.01 million, while MTS’ Ukraine operations ended the month with 19.93 million customers, up 30,000 for the month. MTS Uzbekistan added 180,000 to reach 2.59 million, and the Turkmenistan business added 20,000 new customers to hit 330,000 in total. MTS Armenia ended November with 1.34 million subscribers, down 10,000 subscribers and MTS Belarus added 30,000 to reach 3.73 million.

   

Vimpelcom posts Q3 record net income of USD 458 mln (Russia)

  • November 30th, 2007
  • 2:22 pm

Russian mobile operator Vimpel Communications (Vimpelcom) has reported record net operating revenue of USD 1.96 billion for Q3 2007, up 43.9 percent from Q3 2006 and up 13.9 percent from Q2 2007. OIBDA reached a record USD 1.01 billion for the quarter, up 41.4 percent year-on-year and up 13.2 percent quarter-on-quarter; with net profit up 70.7 percent year-on-year to a record USD 458 million. The consolidated figures cover its operations in Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Georgia and Armenia. Vimpelcom registered a total of 50.69 million active mobile subscribers at end-Q3 2007, up 18.9 percent from 42.64 million a year earlier.

Its Russian operations had a total of 41.80 million active subscribers at end-September, up 7.8 percent from 38.79 million a year earlier. Its Russian business generated Q3 revenue of USD 1.65 billion, up 34.5 percent from USD 1.23 billion in Q3 2006; with net income of USD 422.58 million, up 50.1 percent from USD 279.96 million. ARPU in Russia was USD 13.40 in Q3 2007, up 26.4 percent from USD 10.60 in Q3 2006, with average minutes of use (MOU) up 37.5 percent year-on-year from 151.9 to 208.9 minutes. Churn rate in Russia was 10.1 percent, versus 9.9 percent in Q3 2006.

   

3G arrives in Ukraine (Ukraine)

  • November 6th, 2007
  • 2:00 pm

Ukrtelecom has launched commercial 3G mobile services over a W-CDMA network covering Ukraine’s six largest cities, under the Utel brand. The state-run fixed line incumbent, and sole UMTS licensee, switched on the long-awaited service last week in Kiev, Kharkiv, Dnepropetrovsk, Donetsk, Odessa and Lviv. The move marks Ukrtelecom’s return to the mobile market after selling GSM operator UMC to Russia’s MTS in 2002. At launch, the company had invested around USD150 million in 3G network development, and it plans to invest a further USD146 million in its W-CDMA services by the end of next year. Its management has promised that the first phase of the network will be fully implemented by the end of this year with around 600 base stations in operation. By that date Ukrtelecom hopes to have 10,000 3G subscribers, and it expects the user base to expand to around 500,000 in the first two years of operation, with monthly ARPU anticipated at around USD16-USD17. Russian newspaper CNews quotes regional analysts with differing opinions on the former wireline monopoly’s prospects in the 3G market, with Irina Astafieva of J’son & Partners saying: ‘I believe the expectations regarding the subscriber base expansion are overestimated by 30%-40% - 500,000 is 1% of the Ukrainian population. But the living standards in the republic are lower than in Russia, where, [according to forecasts], 3G penetration in the first two years of 3G network implementation amounts to only 0.6% of population.’ However, the paper also polled more positive opinions from analysts including Tatian Tolmacheva of iKS-Consulting, who pointed to opportunities for Ukrtelecom to take advantage of 3G mobile and fixed line network convergence, and steal the high spending corporate customers of the country’s CDMA fixed-wireless providers, some of which offer 3G-speed wireless internet/data services. According to Tolmacheva: ‘The company is entering the segment occupied by the Ukrainian CDMA companies, which are regarded as the so called ‘second handset operators’ and [add] about 20,000 new users monthly. Ukrtelecom…is quite able to subscribe the same number of users.’