Kyivstar reports bumper December net additions

In December 2012 Ukraine’s largest cellco by subscribers, Kyivstar, reported that its mobile user base increased by a net 473,000 in one month, a ‘record’ figure which it attributed to attracting new customers via value-for-money bundled offers launched in the fourth quarter, following the recommendations of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU). Kyivstar’s marketing department made the announcement based on preliminary figures provided by regional firm iKS-Consulting. TeleGeography notes that Kyivstar’s December 2012 preliminary subscriber total was given by another regional agency, AC&M, at around 25.96 million, up by 740,000 from the end-September total of 25.22 million reported by parent Vimpelcom. Kyivstar’s marketing director said that under the AMCU’s recommendations on reducing the cost of communications, the response to new tariff plans had ‘exceeded all expectations’, adding that the operator had extended an offer to users of other packages to switch to the new economical tariffs.