Vodafone Ukraine (formerly ''MTS Ukraine'', prior to that: ''Ukrainian Mobile Communications'', ''UMC'') is the second-largest

mobile operator A mobile network operator (MNO), also known as a wireless service provider, wireless carrier, cellular company, or mobile network carrier, is a provider of wireless communications services that owns or controls all the elements necessary to sell ...

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

with 23.1 million users and thus a 38 percent market share (in September 2014). In November 2009 it had 17.74 million

GSM The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) is a standard developed by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) to describe the protocols for second-generation ( 2G) digital cellular networks used by mobile devices such as ...

subscribers. The company is fully owned by NEQSOL Holding. In October 2015 Mobile TeleSystems and

Vodafone Vodafone Group Public limited company, plc () is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Telephone company, telecommunications company. Its registered office and Headquarters, global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It ...

expanded their 2008 strategic partnership; this resulted in the

rebranding Rebranding is a marketing strategy in which a new name, term, symbol, design, concept or combination thereof is created for an established brand with the intention of developing a new, differentiated identity in the minds of consumers, investors ...

of MTS Ukraine to Vodafone Ukraine.MTS Ukraine to operate under Vodafone brand

Interfax Ukraine The Interfax-Ukraine ( uk, Інтерфакс-Україна) is a Kyiv-based Ukrainian independent news agency founded in 1992. The company does not belong to the Russian news corporation Interfax Information Services. The company publishes in ...

(16 October 2015) The company's main competitors are

Kyivstar Kyivstar ( uk, Київстар) is a Ukrainian telecommunications company, providing communication services and data transmission based on a broad range of fixed and mobile technologies, including 4G (LTE) in Ukraine. The Kyivstar mobile netw ...

and

lifecell lifecell (formerly life:)) is the third largest Ukrainian mobile telephone network operator, (after Kyivstar and Vodafone Ukraine) covering 98.82% of Ukrainian inhabited territory. The company is wholly owned by Turkcell. Lifecell's dialing pref ...

. Vodafone's network codes in Ukraine are +380 50, +380 66, +380 95, and +380 99 (postpay and prepaid users mixed within the codes).

History

The company UMC Ukraine introduced mobile (cellular) services in Ukraine, initially using the

analog Analog or analogue may refer to: Computing and electronics * Analog signal, in which information is encoded in a continuous variable ** Analog device, an apparatus that operates on analog signals *** Analog electronics, circuits which use analog ...

NMT NMT may refer to: Science and technology * Nordic Mobile Telephone, an analogue mobile phone system * Neurologic Music Therapy * Neural machine translation * Network management protocols, in the CANopen#Network management (NMT) protocols, CANopen ...

standard, then using GSM 900 and 1800. In 1993 UMC Ukraine was Ukraine's major cellular operator. In 2003

Mobile TeleSystems MTS (russian: Мобильные ТелеСистемы, МТС, "Mobile TeleSystems"), headquartered in Moscow, is the largest mobile network operator in Russia, operating on GSM, UMTS and LTE standards. Apart from cellular network, the compan ...

bought the company. In October 2006, MTS-Ukraine terminated its NMT service with plans to use the spectrum for the CDMA-450 rollout. From late 2006, MTS-Ukraine has developed its 3G mobile network with the CDMA-450 1xEV-DO standard. the Ukrainian MTS network supports various value-added services based on GPRS / EGPRS / EDGE and SMS / WAP / MMS / USSD. MTS is the only

BlackBerry The blackberry is an edible fruit produced by many species in the genus ''Rubus'' in the family Rosaceae, hybrids among these species within the subgenus ''Rubus'', and hybrids between the subgenera ''Rubus'' and ''Idaeobatus''. The taxonomy of ...

service-provider in Ukraine; it also provides

WiFi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols, based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio waves ...

hotspots, mainly in large cities and at airports. A survey of 500 companies by GfK Ukraine Company and the magazine "Correspondent" rated MTS-Ukraine as one of the three best employers in the country. In 2007 MTS-Ukraine joined the

United Nations Global Compact The United Nations Global Compact is a non-binding United Nations pact to encourage businesses and firms worldwide to adopt sustainable and socially responsible policies, and to report on their implementation. The UN Global Compact is a princ ...

to acknowledge the obligations of the

business sector In economics, the business sector or corporate sector - sometimes popularly called simply "business" - is "the part of the economy made up by companies". It is a subset of the domestic economy, excluding the economic activities of general govern ...

with regard to universally accepted principles in the areas of human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption. The company always gives great attention to advancing principles of social responsibility and to the 10 principles of The United Nations Global Compact. Corporate social responsibility is one of the major strategic priorities of MTS-Ukraine activity. MTS-Ukraine activity is constructed on social responsibility with respect to the state, consumers, employees, partners, competitors and Ukrainian society in general. On March 15, 2007, MTS-Ukraine became the first telecommunication company in Ukraine to receive the Certificate of European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) "Perfection Recognition", which confirms the high standards of communication-operator work. In 2007 MTS-Ukraine was acknowledged as the most known socially responsible company in Ukraine according to popular opinion and by independent research by the UMG Company. In 2008, research by the independent PRP Group Company rated MTS-Ukraine as the best in Ukraine as regards participation in the telecommunication market. In 2008, and MTS-Ukraine's owner

and

signed a strategic partnership. In 2011 MTS-Ukraine openly declared its interest in acquiring Utel, a

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company or daughter company is a company owned or controlled by another company, which is called the parent company or holding company. Two or more subsidiaries that either belong to the same parent company or having a s ...

Ukrtelecom Ukrtelecom JSC ( uk, Укртелеком) (PFTS Ukraine Stock Exchange, PFTS:]UTLM is Ukraine's monopolist telephone company, also active in the Internet service provider, ISP and mobile telephony, mobile markets. The company was governed by t ...

, Ukraine's monopolist telephone company, after Ukrtelecom announced plans to divest its mobile business. In October 2015 Mobile TeleSystems and Vodafone expanded their strategic partnership; this resulted in the

of MTS Ukraine as "Vodafone Ukraine". On 11 and 12 January 2018, the company operations in Ukraine's separatist entities on the occupied territories

Luhansk People's Republic The Luhansk or Lugansk People's Republic (russian: Луга́нская Наро́дная Респу́блика, Luganskaya Narodnaya Respublika, ; abbreviated as LPR or LNR, rus, ЛНР) is a disputed entity created by Russian-backed ...

(on 11 January) and

Donetsk People's Republic The Donetsk People's Republic ( rus, Донецкая Народная Республика, Donetskaya Narodnaya Respublika, dɐˈnʲetskəjə nɐˈrodnəjə rʲɪˈspublʲɪkə; abbreviated as DPR or DNR, rus, ДНР) is a Territorial ...

(on 12 January) were discontinued after a

fibre optic An optical fiber, or optical fibre in Commonwealth English, is a flexible, transparent fiber made by drawing glass (silica) or plastic to a diameter slightly thicker than that of a human hair. Optical fibers are used most often as a means to ...

line cut. This resulted in two million people losing mobile phone access. Until the Vodafone Ukraine line was repaired the remaining mobile phone carriers available in the region were the two operated by the separatist authorities. On 19 January the repair of the fibre optic line was completed and Vodafone Ukraine's services in territory controlled by the Luhansk People's Republic completely resumed. However, the territory controlled by the Donetsk People's Republic remained without a mobile connection; "the network does not work for reasons unknown to us" according to Vodafone Ukraine. On 23 March 2018, "Donetsk People's Republic" stated that Vodafone Ukraine could only resume operating in the territory controlled by it if it would start to pay taxes to the unrecognised state. Something Vodafone Ukraine refused. Mobile TeleSystems sold its Ukraine operations in 2019.

NEQSOL Holding NEQSOL Holding is an international group of companies. Most companies of the group are active in the fields of energy, telecommunications, construction and high-tech. It was founded by Azerbaijani Nasib Hasanov. The holding first started in the ...

acquired 100% of Vodafone Ukraine shares in December 2019.NEQSOL Holding closed the deal to buy Vodafone Ukraine
Economica pravda (4 December 2019) NEQSOL Holding is an Azerbaijani company, it was founded in 1994 and was a joint venture between the Azerbaijani government and the private

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

i company GTIB.Banker Lavrenchuk headed the Ukrainian office of the company that bought Vodafone Ukraine
Economica pravda (5 April 2021)

References

External links

* {{Ukraine mobile phone companies Mobile phone companies of Ukraine Vodafone MTS (network provider)