The Kyivstar mobile communications operator has connected another 496 Ukrainian settlements to the 4G communications network, increasing 4G coverage in 11 regions of Ukraine, the company said on Thursday.

The operator, in particular, connected the villages of Chernelivka, Novoselytsia, Narkevychi in Khmelnytsky region; the villages of Borshevychi, Dobrostany, Bukova in Lviv region; Torchyn, Liubeshiv, Velymche in Volyn region; the villages of Viytivka, Sokolivka, Tereshky in Vinnytsia region and other settlements.

At present, the 4G Kyivstar network covers over 11,000 settlements, in which almost 79% of the population of Ukraine lives.

According to the company, since the launch of the 4G communications in April 2018, more than 10 million subscribers have already used the 4G services. Over the period, the volume of data traffic in the Kyivstar mobile network grew from 325 to 649 petabytes (PB).

As reported, Kyivstar in 2019 increased revenue by 19.6%, to UAH 22.392 billion, EBITDA by 39.4%, to UAH 14.683 billion. The number of mobile operator subscribers in the fourth quarter of 2019 decreased by 0.6% compared to the same period in 2018, to 26.2 million, while the number of fixed-line subscribers increased by 10.8%, to 1 million.

Kyivstar is the largest Ukrainian telecommunications operator. It provides communications and data transfer services based on a wide range of mobile and fixed technologies, including 3G. By the end of 2018, its services were used by about 26.4 million mobile subscribers and about 900,000 fixed Internet customers.