HiTech.Expert

The Kyivstar telecommunication operator has introduced services "Package 20 SMS" and "Package 10 MMS" for subscribers of Beeline (the Ukrainian Radiosystems Company) from April 6. Ukrainian News learned this from a statement by Kyivstar. The effect of package messages is one week. The cost of the service of SMS is UAH 3/week, the cost of service of MMS is UAH 2/week. As Ukrainian News earlier reported, the Kyivstar telecommunications operator and the Beeline mobile communications operator (the Ukrainian Radiosystems and Golden Telecom companies) ended the period of October-December 2010 with a net profit of UAH 514.1 million. On October 5, 2009, the Altimo company (Russia) and Telenor agreed to merge Kyivstar and VimpelCom to create a new cellular communications operator, VimpelCom Ltd. (Bermuda islands), to provide integrated cellular communications services in Russia, Ukraine, and other member-countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States, as well as in Georgia, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. Kyivstar and Beeline intend to complete their merger by 2014.

The Kyivstar telecommunications operator introduced the “Long Conversations” tariff plan for subscribers to its prepaid services on March 1. Kyivstar announced this in a statement. subscribers to this tariff plan can make telephone calls among themselves at UAH 0 per minute (this rate applies to subscribers of the Kyivstar, Beeline, and Golden Telecom telecommunications operators) if they top-up their accounts by UAH 30 or more per month. In addition, the tariff plan offers 100 free SMS text messages within the network. A subscription fee of UAH 10 is charged every time a subscriber tops-up his account. A connection fee of 35 kopecks is also charged. Telephone calls to numbers on the Kyivstar and Beeline networks in excess of the number of minutes offered by the tariff plan cost 35 kopecks per minute and calls to numbers on other mobile and landline telephone networks cost 85 kopecks per minute. SMS text messages to numbers on Ukrainian mobile networks cost 50 kopecks per message and MMS multimedia messages cost UAH 1 per message. Telephone calls are charged by the second. The number of subscribers of the Kyivstar and Beeline reduced by 0.2% to 24.33 million in January. Kyivstar and Beeline intend to complete their merger by 2014.

The Kyivstar telecom operator and the Beeline communications operator (Ukrainian RadioSystems and Golden Telecom companies) have introduced from February 16 a tariff plan "Keep in Touch" for contractual subscribers and subscribers to the pre-paid communication services of both networks. Ukrainian News learned this from a joint statement by the two operators. According to the tariff plan, subscribers to pre-paid services of both networks are provided with 1,500 package minutes within the networks of Kyivstar and Beeline and 50 package minutes of calls to other networks. Contractual subscribers of Kyivstar are provided with 1,600 package minutes within the networks of Kyivstar and Beeline and 60 package minutes of calls to other networks. The monthly fee for all subscribers is UAH 60. Nothing is charged for connection. As Ukrainian News earlier reported, Kyivstar on November 22, 2010 opened the national roaming for the subscribers of Beeline. Kyivstar and Beeline communications operators plan to close the merger deal by 2014. The companies will be merged in several stages: at the first one Kyivstar will open national roaming for Beeline subscribers to enable them communicate under the Beeline tariffs within the united network.

The Beeline mobile communications operator (the Ukrainian Radiosystems and Golden Telecom companies) has lowered its fees for roaming calls within the CIS by UAH 5 or 23.8% to UAH 16 per minute from January 15. The Antimonopoly Committee announced this in a statement. At present, incoming and outgoing calls within this roaming zone cost UAH 21 per minute. In addition, according to the Antimonopoly Committee, Beeline lowered the surcharge on its roaming tariffs for contract subscribers from 15% to 13% from January 15. As Ukrainian News earlier reported, the Antimonopoly Committee launched an investigation into the roaming tariffs of mobile communications operators in July and recommended in September that they bring their tariffs to economically justified levels.

The Kyivstar telecommunications operator and the Beeline mobile communications operator (the Ukrainian Radiosystems and Golden Telecom companies) ended the period of July-September with a net profit of UAH 587.3 million. This is stated in a report by VimpelCom Ltd., which controls Kyivstar and Beeline. According to the report, the net revenues of Kyivstar and Beeline increased by UAH 294.4 million or 9.59% to UAH 3,365.4 million in the third quarter compared with the second quarter. The ARPU (Average revenue per user) of Kyivstar and Beeline increased by UAH 2.9 or 7.3% to UAH 42.6 in the third quarter, compared with the second quarter. As Ukrainian News earlier reported, Kyivstar and Beeline ended the period of April-June with a net profit of UAH 339 million. On October 5, 2009, the Altimo company (Russia) and Telenor agreed to merge Kyivstar and VimpelCom to create a new cellular communications operator, VimpelCom Ltd. (Bermuda islands), to provide integrated cellular communications services in Russia, Ukraine, and other member-countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States, as well as in Georgia, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. Kyivstar and Beeline intend to complete their merger by 2014. According to the "Top 100 Ukrainian Business Leaders" ranking, Kyivstar was the leading company in the "communications and telecommunications" sector in terms of net revenues (UAH 12.8 billion) and net profits (UAH 5.56 billion) in 2008. According to the "Top 100 Ukrainian Business Leaders" ranking, Ukrainian Radiosystems was the sixth largest company in the "communications and telecommunications" sector in terms of net revenues (UAH 0.97 billion) and Golden telecom was the seventh largest in terms of net revenues (UAH 607.4 million) in 2008.