By KYIV. May 5 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The largest Ukrainian mobile operator Kyivstar in the first quarter of 2023 increased its hryvnia revenue by 6% (in dollars it decreased by 17.2%) compared to the same period in 2022, to UAH 8.346 billion, according to a report by the parent company VEON.
According to it, during the reporting period, Kyivstar increased its EBITDA by 1% in hryvnia (in dollars, the figure decreased by 21.2%) compared to the same period last year – up to UAH 4.921 billion, and its EBITDA margin decreased by 2.9 percentage points (p.p.) – to 59%.
The company clarified that revenues from mobile services increased by 6.7%, to UAH 7.830 billion.
In addition, the operator noted that in the first quarter of 2023, the consumption of minutes per subscriber (MoU) decreased by 11.7%, to 551 from 624 in the same period last year. At the same time, the use of mobile Internet over the same period increased by 23.4% – up to 9.5 gigabytes per subscriber, while the average revenue per user (ARPU) increased by 13.3% – up to UAH 106.
The subscriber base in the first quarter of 2023 amounted to 24.3 million, 6.7% less than a year earlier, at the same time, the number of 4G users increased by 4.2%, or 600,000, to 13.3 million in a year, and now 4G penetration in the subscriber base is 54.6%.
As for the Kyivstar fixed network, its revenues decreased by 4.2%, to UAH 463 million, and the number of users by 7%, to 1.1 million.
At the same time, the company noted a 27.7% increase, to 1 million, in the number of users of Kyivstar TV’s streaming business and the recent launch of the Children’s Profile in it.
According to the report, Kyivstar’s capital expenditures increased by 18.4% over the reporting period, to UAH 780 million.
According to the company, Kyivstar’s capital expenditures were aimed at maintaining the main networks in the country, as well as the sustainability of the business. The Kyivstar team was able to keep almost 90% of the radio network as of the end of March 2023.
During the quarter, 81 settlements were connected to the 4G network, 215 new base stations were added and another 460 were converted to 4G.
In the first quarter of this year, VEON did not record significant impairment losses related to operations in Ukraine and no impairment losses related to operations in Russia.
