Ukrtelecom, the largest fixed-line operator in Ukraine, laid almost 11,000 km of optical lines in 2022-2023, the company's press service reported on Friday.

"During the full-scale war, Ukrtelecom built almost 11,000 kilometers of optical lines. During this time, the company provided hundreds of thousands more households in all regions of the country with the opportunity to use modern services," the company said.

Most of the fiber-optic lines were laid in Odesa, Kyiv, Zhytomyr, Lviv, and Dnipropetrovsk regions.

The expansion of the optical infrastructure is due to the laying of new lines, the replacement of old copper networks with fiber optics and the restoration of the network in de-occupied territories, the company said.

"Despite the difficult operating conditions, Ukrtelecom continues to provide Ukrainians with access to high-speed optical Internet. The company, in accordance with its pre-war strategy, decided to continue ambitious projects to develop optical networks throughout the country and optical modernization of copper infrastructure," the company's press service quoted JSC Ukrtelecom CEO Yuriy Kurmaz.

He emphasized that uninterrupted, high-quality Internet is critically necessary, since it allows citizens to instantly receive information about the security situation, increases the sustainability of business, and serves as the basis for the continuity of educational processes and continuous interaction between government agencies.

In 2024, Ukrtelecom will continue to develop a modern optical network, investing in the development of GPON non-volatile Internet technology, Kurmaz added.

Ukrtelecom said that in 2023, more than 150 medical and 185 educational institutions connected to the company's optical infrastructure. Some 1,250 medical and 1,700 educational institutions have access to high-speed optical Internet.

Populated areas in which the operator develops fiber-optic networks have the opportunity to access the Internet at speeds of up to 1 Gbit/s, which, in turn, makes it possible to use the full potential of digital services in the public and private sectors, the press service of the telecom operator said.

Services based on IP technologies have become available to the population, in particular, interactive television in HD and 4K quality, video conferencing and Internet telephony, the company reported.

Ukrtelecom is the largest fixed-line operator in Ukraine. Since 2013, the company has joined the SCM business.