The Kyivstar mobile communications operator in January-March 2020 increased total operating revenue by 16.1% year-over-year, to UAH 5.95 billion, according to a report of the shareholder in the company, Veon international group, posted on its official website.

"The increase was primarily driven by mobile data, voice and fixed line revenue growth owing to continuous 4G roll out, increase traffic and pricing. In addition, the local currency also observed an improvement against the USD when compared with the same period last year," Veon said.

According to Veon, in the first quarter, Kyivstar increased its EBITDA by 25.35% compared to the same period last year, to UAH 4.04 billion. EBITDA margin increased 5 percentage points (pp), to 67.9%.

Revenue from mobile services increased by 16.1%, to UAH 5.53 billion.

Veon reported that Kyivstar's mobile Internet coverage reached 77%, while 4G mobile penetration in the operator's network reached 30%.

ARPU of mobile communications grew to UAH 70.30, or 17.43%, the consumption of voice services (MoU) – by 3%, to 603 minutes.

Overall, Kyivstar's mobile customer base decreased slightly by 1.2% to 26.0 million.

"The decrease was a result of demographic trends in Ukraine and the reduction in multi SIM users. The number of our mobile data customers in Ukraine increased by 10% year-on-year, mainly due to an increased 4G/ LTE user penetration," Veon said in its report.

Fixed line revenue increased by 16.86%, to UAH 384 million, fixed broadband ARPU increased by 7.63% to UAH 81. Fixed broadband customer base grew by 9.99%, to 1 million customers.

Capex for the reporting period increased by 37.11% (excluding the cost of licenses for 4G communications) and amounted to UAH 1.347 billion.