HiTech.Expert

The Astelit cellular mobile telephone company, which provides mobile telephone services under the life:) brand name, finished 2010 with losses of USD 101 million. In 2010, the company's net revenues in the hryvnia equivalent shrank by 3.36% or UAH 11.8 million, compared with 2009, to UAH 339.3 million. EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) of the company made up USD 64.5 million in 2010. Its capital expenditures (CAPEX) in 2010 made up of USD 66.5 million. Oleksandr Barinov, CEO of Astelit, said the reduction in the revenues of the company accounted for closure of a non-profitable branch on transit of of international traffic and the lower rates of interconnect. At the same time Barinov pointed to the EBITDA of the company for 2010, as EBITDA tripled over 2009. He assessed this as an achievement of the company's management through a complex of measures on trimming expenses, including restructure of tariffs to cut the expenses for interconnect. He said the company expects its financial indexes to grow in 2011 through realization of a strategy focusing on regional approach to its clients, effective management and development of data transmission services. As Ukrainian News earlier reported, the Astelit finished the October-December period with USD 30.9 million in the red. Astelit reported a loss of USD 111.8 million for the year 2009, when its net revenues reduced by USD 87.6 million or 19.9% to USD 351.1 million compared with 2008.

The Astelit cellular mobile telephone company, which provides mobile telephone services under the life:) brand name, finished the October-December period with USD 30.9 million in the red. This is said in the quarterly report of Astelit. In the fourth quarter, the company's revenues in the hryvnia equivalent shrank by 11.9% or UAH 11 million to UAH 81.8 million. EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) of the company made up USD 16.9 million. Its capital expenditures in the fourth quarter made up of USD 21.4 million. As Ukrainian News earlier reported, the Astelit cellular mobile telephone company finished the July-September period with USD 26.4 million in the red, having reduced its revenues in the hryvnia equivalent by 8.85% or UAH 60.1 million to UAH 670.6 million (in dollar terms, it increased by USD 8.3 million or 8.9% to USD 84.9 million). Astelit reported a loss of USD 111.8 million for the year 2009, when its net revenues reduced by USD 87.6 million or 19.9% to USD 351.1 million compared with 2008.

The Kyivstar telecommunications operator sees no legal grounds to provide free services allowing subscribers to retain their telephone numbers when changing from one mobile communications operator to another. The press service of Kyivstar announced this to Ukrainian News. According to a commentary by Kyivstar's department of regulatory and legal framework, number portability service (transfer of telephone numbers from one network to another) is a telecommunications service and, according to the law "On Telecommunications," operators can set their own tariffs for such services. "Thus, there is no basis for establishment of MNP (Mobile Number Portability) as a free service under the relevant legal realities without making any changes to the law 'On Telecommunications,'" the company said in the statement. The press service of the MTS Ukraine mobile operator told Ukrainian News that the operator considers it tempting to provide this service free of charge but provision of any telecommunications services (including this service) involves expenditures that need to be evaluated and establishment of sources of funds for financing them. The Astelit mobile operator (the life:) brand name) told Ukrainian News that the approach of the National Communications Regulation Commission to introduction of number portability services is fully consistent with Astelit's customer-oriented logic. As Ukrainian News earlier reported, the National Communications Regulation Commission preliminarily approved on December 23 a draft provision on provision of subscriber number portability services and use of personal numbers, which proposes providing such services free to subscribers.

The National Communications Regulation Commission (NCRC) intends to determine before 2011 the company that will administer services allowing subscribers to mobile-telephone services to keep their personal telephone numbers when switching from one mobile-telephone operator to another (MNP - Mobile Number Portability). An informed source disclosed this to Ukrainian News. "It has not yet been announced officially who will administer number portability. The NCRC is presently in the final phase of selecting the administrator. It is a matter of 2-3 weeks," the source said. He did not name the companies seeking to perform this function, but he said that competition for the position was very fierce. As earlier reported, the Astelit cellular mobile telephone company, which provides mobile telephone services under the life:) brand, said in July that it was realistic to begin providing MNP in the first quarter of 2011 on condition of smooth joint work and cooperation between the NCRC, Ukrchastotnahliad (the Ukrainian State Center for Radio Frequencies), and, in particular, mobile communications operators. The MTS Ukraine mobile communications operator has said that it is impossible to introduce this service before July 2011. The parliament voted on July 1 to amend the Law on Telecommunications to grant subscribers to mobile telephone services the right to keep their personal telephone numbers when switching from one mobile-telephone operator to another and directed the NCRC to draft conditions for introduction of MNP within six months.

In October, the number of subscribers of Ukrainian mobile-telephone operators fell by 0.2% or 0.13 million to 54.74 million. Ukrainian News has learned this from results of a research conducted by iKS-Consulting, a wording of which was made available for the agency. In particular, the combined number of subscribers to the services of Kyivstar and Beeline (Ukrainian Radiosystems and Golden Telecom companies) made up 24.94 million, the number of MTS' subscribers made up 18.23 million, and Astelit company (life:) brand) 9.64 million. The rest of subscribers belong to the biggest telecommunications company Ukrtelecom and three CDMA operators. According to specified data, in September the number of subscribers of Ukrainian mobile-telephone operators made up 54.87 million.