You're reading: Poroshenko signs decree to launch superspeed 5G

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko signed a decree on May 17 to roll out the 5G internet in Ukraine, currently the fastest mobile data technology available.

This decree initiates the process for launching the technology in Ukraine as well as setting the deadline for 2020.

“Understanding that most of the European Union countries will have 5G working by 2020, I’m signing this decree,” Poroshenko said on May 17, claiming that it’s a “historical” event. “It will clearly schedule the launch of the fifth-generation data network for 2020 in Ukraine.”

5G will offer much faster internet speeds than 4G and foster new mobile services to appear, but today none of the smartphones support this technology.

Ukraine’s telecom regulator, State Center of Radio Frequencies, has to map out a plan, send it to the Cabinet of Ministers to confirm it, and then set up an auction to sell frequencies to Ukraine’s largest mobile operators — Kyivstar, Vodafone Ukraine, and lifecell.

“The decree is important, because in order to (launch 5G), all the power branches should work together,” Alexander Zhyvotovsky, the head of the telecom regulator, told the Kyiv Post on May 17. He says that the president defines the strategy, the Cabinet of Ministers agrees to the changes for radio frequency distribution among mobile operators, and the parliament — if needed — makes changes to the laws.

But independent telecom expert Roman Khimich claims that signing this decree is unimportant as it is done more for promoting the president.

The frequencies are state-owned and this is “obviously” the state’s responsibility, “but the president doesn’t have to be involved,” Khimich told the Kyiv Post. “In this case, it is PR for Poroshenko, nothing more.”

Poroshenko previously signed two similar decrees to launch 3G in 2014 and 4G in 2015. Consequently, there were several auctions held to sell licenses for the radio frequencies to Ukraine’s mobile operators. As a result, the bidders paid Hr 17 billion to the state budget (today, it’s roughly $637 million) for all the licenses.

Khimich says that this is a lot of money and that the operators haven’t yet managed to recover the losses they made by buying and launching 3G. And they are heavily investing into the 4G rollout across Ukraine, he said.

“The state’s appetites for raising funds to fill the budget turned out to be such that, for example, the ‘second player’ had to borrow money… in order to participate in the 4G tender — no less than a third part of the sum,” Khimich said, referring to Vodafone Ukraine, which paid over $55 million for its 4G licences (one third for them would be about $18 million).

Together the operators in Ukraine have over 50 million users, as some Ukrainians have more than two SIM-cards. But the average price for mobile operator services is about $4. For example, Vodafone Ukraine’s most expensive pre-paid tariff cost $5.6 and offers unlimited 4G internet.

“The consequences of this decree will depend on a range of factors such as which frequencies will be offered to auction and at what price…” he said. “Unfortunately, the rhetoric of both (Poroshenko and Zhyvotovsky) is the same as in the past — withdrawal of funds for the budget.”

The Kyiv Post’s technology coverage is sponsored by Ciklum and NIX Solutions. The content is independent of the donors.