Amsterdam-based yet Russian-owned telecom group Veon on Dec. 6 appointed Aleksandr Komarov as the new president of Kyivstar, Ukraine’s biggest mobile operator that services over 26 million SIM cards.
Four months before his appointment, Komarov was the acting CEO of Kyivstar, replacing Russian-born Peter Chernyshov, who left the position for unknown reasons this July and who doesn’t have a full-time job at this time.
For Komarov, that was taking extra responsibilities as he also had to keep his CEO position at Beeline Kazakhstan, a mobile carrier also owned by Veon (former VimpelCom). But Komarov announced he was completely leaving Beeline Kazakhstan to take up a full-time position at Kyivstar.
“Ukraine is where I was born and where I initially started my career,” Komarov said in the company’s public statement released on Dec. 6.
“So I’m incredibly proud to return to Kyivstar as CEO on a permanent basis,” he said. His goal is to keep Kyivstar as the leader among the three main operators and “set new, high standards for innovation and customer care” on the market.
Komarov joined Veon five years ago. Before joining Veon, Komarov used to be an executive at Ukrainian marketing company GroupM for six years, from 2007–2013.
Veon is a private company with headquarters in the Netherlands, but 56 percent of its shares are owned by Russian Mikhail Fridman’s Alfa Group through its firm called Altimo.
Announcing the new CEO, Veon pointed out that Komarov had achieved “steady profit growth and launched new digital services in Beeline. In Ukraine, Kyivstar is a national success story and I am convinced that with Komarov at the helm, the company will continue to be the leading provider of connectivity and internet services in the country,” Veon chairwoman Ursula Burns said on Dec. 6, adding that Komarov has a “tremendous track record of leadership.”
In 2017, Kyivstar generated almost $600 million in revenue.
Mobile number portability
Mobile number portability is a service that allows customers to move freely among networks, taking their number with them wherever they go.
It works in 70 countries. In Ukraine, however, the portability has long been on the way, but never quite arrived. After eight years of talks and tenders, the service has still not been launched. The process has become stuck in years of acrimonious disputes over how and by whom portability will be implemented. The bickering has resulted in three tender re-runs and more than four dozen court hearings.
Kyivstar’s competitors complain that, as the market leader, Kyivstar has the most to gain in keeping the status quo and preventing the service from launching. But both previous and current management of Kyivstar has always denied the accusation. Komarov claims that he favors mobile number portability, though he has never quite believed in its effectiveness.
The Kyiv Post’s technology coverage is sponsored by Ciklum and NIX Solutions. The content is independent of the donors.
