Number of Fixed CDMA-800 Users Up 16.4% in Ukraine in Jan-Mar

KIEV, April 3 (Prime-Tass) -- The number of subscribers to fixed CDMA-800 services increased 16.4% on the year to 135,000 users in Ukraine in January-March, the Association of CDMA operators of Ukraine said Monday.

The association includes Velton Telecom, the U.S.-Ukrainian joint venture International Telecommunication Company (ITC), Intertelecom, and the Irish-Ukrainian joint venture CST-Invest.

The subscriber base of Velton Telecom rose 3.2% in the period to 65,000 users. The company operates in 14 cities and has a license for the whole of Ukraine, the association said.

ITC's subscriber base rose 29.4% in January-March to 33,000 users. The company has networks in 10 cities and has licenses for five more regions, the association said.

Intertelecom's subscriber base rose 8% in the period to 27,000 users as of April 1, the association said, adding that the company operates in the Odessa Region and holds licenses for 18 more regions.

The subscriber base of CST-Invest remained flat in the period at 10,000 users, the association said, adding that the company operates in two cities and holds licenses for a total of 19 regions.

Ukrainian Telesystems is the fifth CDMA-800 operator in Ukraine, and is currently only developing its network, the association said.

In 2005, the number of subscribers of Ukraine?s CDMA-800 operators increased 93.34% to 116,000 users as of January 1.

The association said earlier that it expects the user base of the CDMA-800 network to amount to between 200,000 users and 210,000 users by the end of 2006.

Although a wireless technology, CDMA may be easily adapted for fixed-line services. The four Ukrainian operators included in the association have licenses to offer only fixed-line CDMA services.

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Posted to the site on 4th April 2006