This is an increase from the previously announced $600 million over three years. The commitment will be used for investments in network and digital services, including potential acquisitions, development of new assets, community contributions and partnerships.
Veon Chairman of the Board and Veon Founder Auggie Fabela, Veon and Kyivstar Board Member and former U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo, and Kyivstar CEO Oleksandr Komarov will attend the Ukraine Reconstruction Conference 2024, which begins today in Berlin.
The conference will focus on Veon and Kyivstar’s current contributions to Ukraine’s resilience, as well as Veon’s future efforts for Ukraine.
Komarov said: “Veon and Kyivstar are helping Ukraine resilient, recover and rebuild in every way possible: from meeting the country’s critical connectivity needs to providing digital capabilities to its citizens; from future-proofing the network with our Open RAN partnership to ensuring energy resilience and continuity; from supporting Ukrainian businesses today to investing in the digital ecosystem for the country’s future.”
“Seeing the support of international investors in Veon, we are proud that Kyivstar is an important example of how international investors and socially responsible companies can support a country through war.”
“Strengthened by our example, at Ukraine Reconstruction 2024 we call on companies to invest in Ukraine, and to invest now. We are pleased to increase our own investment commitment of $1 billion over five years.”
Since February 2022, Kyivstar has built 1,895 new LTE base stations and upgraded around 13,200 existing base stations to 4G.
The company has added more than 4,100 residential areas to its 4G coverage area, meaning that more than 95 percent of the population in Ukrainian-controlled territories can access 4G services on the Kyivstar network.
The company says it aims to cover almost the entire population with 4G over the next two years.
In February 2024, Kyivstar and Rakuten Symphony signed a letter of intent confirming Kyivstar’s interest in procuring and deploying Rakuten Symphony’s open RAN technology into its network, including both 4G and 5G technologies.
