The mobile operator Kyivstar in the second quarter of 2020 increased its total revenue by 6.8% compared to the same period in 2019, to UAH 6 billion, the company's press service said on Thursday.

According to the published data, in Q2 2020 Kyivstar increased its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) by 11.5% compared to the same period last year, to UAH 4.075 billion. EBITDA margin rose by 2.8 percentage points (p.p.), to 67.8%.

Revenues from mobile communication services grew by 6.6%, to UAH 5.59 billion.

In addition, the operator said that in the second quarter of 2020, minutes of use (MoU) increased by 12.2%, from 571 in the same period last year to 641 in Q2 2020. In the same period, mobile Internet use grew 54.3%, to 5.0 gigabytes per subscriber, while average revenue per user (ARPU) increased 9.4%.

The subscriber base in the second quarter of 2020 was 25.4 million. The subscriber base of the Home Internet service expanded by 9% compared to Q2 2019, and exceeded 1 million users. Fixed-line Internet traffic also increased.

Capital expenditures of Kyivstar grew over the specified period by 53% compared to Q2 2019 and reached UAH 1.766 billion. According to the company, the funds were mainly used to build 4G networks in rural areas and improve the quality of communications.

In Q2 2020, the operator transferred taxes and other payments to the budget of Ukraine in the amount of more than UAH 2 billion. At the same time, in H1 2020, the company transferred UAH 4.6 billion to the national budget.

Kyivstar is the largest Ukrainian telecommunications operator. It provides communications and data services based on a wide range of mobile and fixed-line technologies, including 3G. By the end of 2018, 26.4 million mobile subscribers and about 0.9 million fixed-line Internet customers used its services.

The shareholder of Kyivstar is the international group VEON (formerly VimpelCom Ltd.). Shares of the group are listed on NASDAQ Stock Exchange (New York).