Running on 40% capacity at times
Ukraine needs €1.58 billion ($1.79 billion) to rebuild its telecoms infrastructure after ten of its 24 regions were damaged by Russian forces, according to Yurii Shchyhol, head of the State Special Communications Service (SPCC). Mobile comms in Ukraine was running at about 77% of its overall capacity on the morning of January 17, since many base stations in affected regions are not operating while active fighting continues, reported The New Voice of Ukraine.
“After the first massive missile attacks by the Russians, the uptime indicator was at 40%, so this indicates an increase in the stability of our networks,” said Shchyhol. Part of that improvement came from the 20% of the base stations operating in Kherson Oblast se map above) before the full-scale invasion took them out. These were restored after the region’s partial liberation from the Russian invaders.
According to Shchyhol, the rest of the territory of Ukraine provides at east 70% network signal availability from its base stations as Ukrainian mobile operators promptly restored service and stabilised their networks. The operators are providing backup power not just to the base stations but the entire network’s subsystems. “That’s tens of thousands of [devices],” Shchyhol said, “and so far all the key elements of the operators’ networks [have been maintained].”
Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, mobile operators have restored a total of more than 3,200 kilometres of fibre optic lines. They have also restored 1,200 base stations and built more than 1,500 new stations. In addition, over 8,000 stations have been upgraded. The SPCC agency said that investments in the development of mobile networks in 2022 would amount to at least 8 billion Ukrainian Hryvna (€203 million or $218.7 million).
The State Special Communications Service said the infrastructure of IT and telecoms in Ukraine became one of the main targets of enemy attacks after since Feb 24, 2022. Cyber-attacks have been particularly intense, with 1,123 state sponsored hacks aimed at all sectors of Ukraine’s economy, including IT and telecommunications, were recorded in just six months of full-scale war.
Even if there is no mobile internet or there’s a full blackout for several days voice calls and SMS services will continue to work in some locations, said Olga Ustinova, CEO of mobile operator Vodafone. There may be times when the network can only provide point coverage, during which mobile communication will be partially available, said Oleksandr Komarov, CEO of mobile operator Kyivstar.