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

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 invas ...

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

of MTS Ukraine to Vodafone Ukraine.MTS Ukraine to operate under Vodafone brand
Interfax Ukraine (16 October 2015) The company's main competitors are Kyivstar and lifecell. 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 analo ...

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 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 Evolution-Data Optimized (EV-DO, EVDO, etc.) is a telecommunications standard for the wireless transmission of data through radio signals, typically for broadband Internet access. EV-DO is an evolution of the CDMA2000 (IS-2000) standard which su ...

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 wa ...

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 gove ...

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 Mobile TeleSystems and

signed a strategic partnership. In 2011 MTS-Ukraine openly declared its interest in acquiring Utel, a subsidiary of Ukrtelecom, 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 disputed en ...

(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 ...

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 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 Azerbaijani may refer to: * Something of, or related to Azerbaijan * Azerbaijanis * Azerbaijani language See also * Azerbaijan (disambiguation) * Azeri (disambiguation) * Azerbaijani cuisine * Culture of Azerbaijan The culture of Azerbaijan ...

company, it was founded in 1994 and was a joint venture between the

Azerbaijani government The Politics of Azerbaijan takes place in a framework of a semi-presidential republic, with the President of Azerbaijan as the head of state, and the Prime Minister of Azerbaijan as head of government. Executive power is exercised by the presi ...

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)