Telekom Malaysia - Huawei

VOICES
FROM OPERATORS
We were ready for 3G yesterday. We’ve increased voice
capacity and data capacity. We’ve changed our old base stations for new ones,
and these are ready to support 3G.
a huge number of competitors,” he adds. “There are a lot of
small players in each of the different regions. As for national
players – those are fewer. Ukrtelecom is of course, No. 1, and
we are No. 2. In the next two or three years, I want us to be
No. 1.”
This aim has been much helped by a merger that took
place in 2010 between Kyivstar and Beeline Ukraine, which
possesses advanced fixed broadband Internet access. “The
decision of the two parties’ shareholders to merge their
assets was aimed at improving economic efficiency,” says
Lytovchenko. “The merger has already generated a synergy
effect of USD52 million in the past few months. And users
have benefited too, as they now have a new operator with
new features combining Kyivstar’s mobile leadership with
Beeline’s fixed expertise.” He adds that the merger has now
created a multi-service operator that can offer a whole range
of telecom services at affordable prices.
The development of fixed broadband will also bring with
it IPTV, and Lytovchenko says Kyivstar, which is currently
waiting for its IPTV license, is well placed to take advantage of
its nationwide presence when it obtains the license. “The scale
of our business is definitely seen as a threat by our competitors,
since IPTV is a major step towards full-fledged multi-service
business,” he says. “Today, we are offering FTTB to two million
subscribers across 32 cities in Ukraine. Of course, they will all
have access to IPTV when we can provide it.”
Mobile crossroads
One of the impediments to Kyivstar’s plans for growth
over the last few years has been the scarceness of 3G licenses
for most players in the Ukraine market. Currently, the only
3G license belongs to the operator Ukrtelecom, which has
some 600,000 subscribers. Kyivstar, which currently offers
mobile data through its EDGE network, is understandably
eager to acquire a 3G license. “The demand for 3G is
already there in Ukraine,” says Lytovchenko. “People have
millions of 3G-enabled devices at present. This technology
should have been launched five years ago; 2G and 2.5G
are still capable enough, but new times call for new
technologies.” To him, the issue of 3G licenses needs to be
addressed immediately to ensure that the country is on par
with its European peers. “In the Ukrainian telecom market,
this is the biggest issue,” he adds. “In other European
countries, 3G has been widely available for some time now,
and many operators are even developing LTE. However, the
government has promised that it will issue a tender for 3G
in 2012. If that happens, then I’m absolutely sure that the
Internet will develop very fast in the Ukrainian market.”
In anticipation of the arrival of UMTS, Kyivstar has carried
out a swap of its network equipment. “We were ready for 3G
yesterday,” Lytovchenko says. “We’ve increased voice capacity and
data capacity. We’ve changed our old base stations for new ones,
and these are ready to support 3G. When 3G is introduced, we
will be able to launch our 3G network within a maximum of six
months.” He adds that the operator would like 3G to be available
by the time the Euro 2012 football championship, slated to
be held in Poland and the Ukraine, comes around. “Everyone
coming to see this event will expect to use high-speed mobile
Internet. I hope Kyivstar can provide it,” he says.
In March, Lytovchenko announced that in case the 3G
rollout did not happen soon, Kyivstar would consider a
direct transition to LTE. He says, however, that this would
not be the first option. “Technically, it is possible to jump
from GSM to LTE,” he says. “At the same time, it would
be more logical to develop a little bit slowly: GSM-UMTS-
LTE, because that’s the way it has been historically. Besides,
there are not enough terminals today, and the LTE networks
today are not working in the way that we had expected. I
think that after two years, it might be possible to make the
jump. But today, it is too early.”
9
DEC 2011