Kyivstar’s 5G initiative is designed to evaluate 5G efficiency in actual city circumstances
In sum – what to know:
5G amid battle – Kyivstar is advancing 5G pilots regardless of ongoing assaults on Ukraine’s infrastructure, signaling a broader push to modernize nationwide connectivity even beneath wartime constraints.
Open, versatile networks – The operator is pairing early 5G trials with plans to undertake Open RAN and software-driven architectures, positioning community openness and resilience as central to Ukraine’s long-term digital rebuilding technique.
Kyivstar has commenced a pilot 5G rollout within the historic heart of Lviv, marking the corporate’s first native check of fifth-generation cellular expertise beneath a framework developed with Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine. The initiative is designed to evaluate 5G efficiency in actual city circumstances as a part of broader efforts to modernize the nation’s telecommunications infrastructure.
Preliminary deployment has already activated base stations in downtown Lviv, with Kyivstar making ready its community to make sure the 5G activation doesn’t intrude with navy communications. Pre-launch testing recorded peak obtain speeds exceeding 2.4 Gbps, although precise business efficiency will depend upon community circumstances.
“Even within the midst of full-scale conflict — beneath fixed Russian assaults on infrastructure and through blackouts — Ukraine continues to maneuver ahead and develop innovation within the telecom sector,” stated Mykhailo Fedorov, first deputy prime minister. “The launch of the 5G pilot in Lviv is a crucial step that we’ve collectively ready with cellular operators. Lviv is barely the primary metropolis. We’ll quickly start pilots in Borodianka and Kharkiv as properly. Our purpose is to make sure that Ukrainians keep linked and have entry to superior applied sciences beneath any circumstances.”
Kyivstar stated it plans to increase pilot protection to Kharkiv and Borodianka, with further trials in Kyiv and Odesa later in 2026. A nationwide 5G rollout stays contingent on safety circumstances and the broader affect of Russia’s ongoing aggression. “A full-scale 5G rollout throughout Ukraine will solely be attainable after the conflict ends,” the press launch said.
“Kyivstar is driving Ukraine’s digital transformation with investments in superior applied sciences, from piloting 5G in Lviv to pioneering Direct to Cell satellite tv for pc connectivity via its partnership with Starlink,” stated Oleksandr Komarov, CEO of Kyivstar. “Our dedication goes past connectivity: We’re investing USD 1 billion over 2023-2027 into rebuilding Ukraine’s connectivity and digital infrastructure, from power resilience for our community to digital providers to Ukraine’s personal sovereign Ukrainian LLM, powering not simply development for our firm however serving to assist Ukraine’s future restoration.”
The rollout in Lviv — close to Ukraine’s border with EU member Poland — comes amid a Russian marketing campaign of air strikes concentrating on the power system, which has plunged complete cities into blackouts. “Whereas the enemy is attempting to destroy our infrastructure, we proceed to modernize and construct Ukraine based mostly on essentially the most fashionable applied sciences,” Fedorov, additionally Ukraine’s digital transformation minister, wrote on the Telegram messaging app, Reuters reported.
As a part of its modernization technique, Kyivstar continues to develop 4G protection, with peak speeds exceeding 1 Gbps in some areas, whereas making ready for broader 5G deployment. The operator has additionally linked its 5G roadmap to open, software-driven community architectures.
Kyivstar in 2024 introduced a preliminary settlement with Rakuten Symphony, confirming its curiosity in procuring and deploying Rakuten Symphony’s Open RAN (O-RAN) and 5G applied sciences. The businesses stated they plan to take preliminary deployment steps this yr whereas defining the scope of collaboration, which is anticipated to contain each 4G and 5G O-RAN. The initiative aligns with Kyivstar’s broader technique of testing next-generation applied sciences via managed pilots, at the same time as Ukraine’s telecom infrastructure continues to recuperate from in depth wartime injury following Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.
