The National Commission for Communications and Informatization Regulation (NCCR) of Ukraine has allowed mobile operators to begin eliminating fragmentation of the radio frequency spectrum in the 824-960 MHz bands aiming at further transforming the operators' licenses to launch 4G communication (LTE) in the indicated bands.

"The regulator gives a start to the redistribution of frequency channels by deciding on the licenses of Kyivstar, Vodafone Ukraine, lifecell, and Intertelecom. In fact, the number of licenses from more than 90 is being transformed into several licenses, and the existing highly fragmented spectrum of the 900 MHz range will be changed to a coherent picture of frequency assignments, where each operator will receive a band of sufficient width to launch LTE technology," Bohdana Piven, assistant to the head of the commission, said.

According to a posting on the commission's website, this will eliminate the fragmentation of the radio frequency spectrum in the 824-960 MHz bands (transform about 90 operator licenses, after which each of them will receive several licenses), and will allow the introduction of 4G communications.

Piven also said that in order to obtain final 4G licenses, the operators must once again apply for a defragmented spectrum, having paid the cost for issuing the corresponding licenses to the budget.

"The start of validity of new 4G licenses is July 1, 2020. An exception is Intertelecom, which LTE license will be in effect on April 1, 2020. This is due to the objective need to free the upper 800 MHz channels from CDMA equipment and to ensure painless migration of LTE subscribers to other frequency channels," she said.

All exchange procedures and the final receipt of new licenses by the operators in the commission are planned to be completed by March 1, 2020.