4G in Ukraine: US$205.9 mln in licenses put up for March 6 bidding

The National Commission for Communications Regulation (NCCR) has conducted the second stage of a tender to sell 4G licenses, and Ukraine's largest mobile communications operators – Kyivstar, Vodafone and lifecell – will pay UAH 5.424 billion (US$205.9 million) for 4G licenses in the 1800 MHz band.

In total, six lots were offered for the bidding on March 6, an UNIAN correspondent reported.

Kyivstar, lifecell and Vodafone bought the first three lots for UAH 3.17 billion (US$120 million).

Read alsoThree big Ukrainian mobile operators buy 4G licenses for almost US$88 mln"Only one bidder was qualified for lots Nos. 1-3 each. Thus the commission determined the winners of the tender, namely: lifecell won lot No. 1 for UAH 795 million, Kyivstar won lot No. 2 for UAH 1.325 billion, and VF Ukraine won lot No. 3 for UAH 1.050 billion," head of the NCCR Oleksandr Zhyvotovsky said during the bidding.

Kyivstar also won lots Nos. 4 and 6, having offered UAH 612 million and UAH 900 million for the 4G licenses, respectively.

The VF Ukraine operator, working under the Vodafone brand in Ukraine, won the fifth of the six lots with a bid worth UAH 742 million for the license with a starting price of UAH 265 million.

In total, UAH 5.424 billion will be transferred by the mobile communications operators for 4G licenses in the 1800 MHz band.

As UNIAN reported, the Cabinet of Ministers in December 2015 approved an action plan for the deployment of the 4G network in Ukraine. On July 4, 2017, the Cabinet approved terms of a tender to sell frequencies in the 2600 MHz range for UAH 2.3 billion and in the 1800 MHz range for UAH 4 billion for the development of 4G technology in Ukraine.