Kyivstar, Ukraine's largest telecom operator, announced the cessation of its third-generation (3G) network, resulting in more than 1 million subscribers migrating to 4G. The freed-up spectrum resource has been redirected to LTE network development, according to a company statement published Monday.
Kyivstar explained that by phasing out 3G technology, the available 4G bandwidth has increased by 25%, improving the speed and stability of mobile services.
The mobile operator also noted that the phased 3G phase-out began in 2023, covering all regions of the country. Among other results of the project, 20 MHz of the 2100 MHz band was redistributed in favor of 4G.
Overall, according to the mobile operator, thanks to this redistribution, data transfer speeds on the company's network increased by 20-40% depending on location, and Kyivstar recorded a more than doubling of average mobile internet speeds between 2022 and 2026.
It is noted that as of August of this year, the average download speed on the network was almost 100 Mbps, and in major cities, this figure exceeded this figure.
At the same time, the company emphasized that 3G technology will be temporarily retained locally for a certain number of B2B clients due to the specific location of their equipment, but their transition to 4G is planned to be completed in the near future.
Kyivstar previously announced that, starting August 18 of this year, it will disable 3G technology in a number of populated areas in some regions of Ukraine and redistribute its frequencies in favor of 4G. It was noted that 4G should completely replace 3G in Dnipropetrovsk region (Kryvyi Rih and Kryvyi Rih district), Ivano-Frankivsk (Horodenka, Dolyna, Sniatyn, Verkhovyna, Ivano-Frankivsk, and Kalush districts), and Khmelnytsky (Dunayivtsi, Krasyliv, Netishyn, Polonne, Starokostiantyniv, Khmelnytsky, Kamyanets-Podilsky, and Shepetivka districts).
In turn, the mobile operator Lifecell LLC (TM lifecell), part of the DVL group of companies (Datagroup-Volia-lifecell), will shut down its third-generation (3G) network in a number of settlements in 17 regions of Ukraine on September 3 and transition the corresponding regions to 4G/LTE technology.
According to the National Commission for Regulation of Electronic Communications and Postal Services, the top three leaders in terms of revenue from telecommunications services for January-March 2026 in Ukraine were mobile operators by a significant margin: Kyivstar PJSC – UAH 12.08 billion, VF Ukraine PJSC (Vodafone Ukraine TM) – UAH 6.69 billion, and Lifecell LLC (Lifecell TM) from the DVL Group – UAH 4.2 billion.
