UKrtelecom and Iskratel team up to connect the rural regions of Ukraine

Iskratel and PJSC Ukrtelecom are building out a fibre network (GPON) to connect rural areas of Ukraine. The rollout will connect more than 200 localities in 13 Ukrainian regions, enabling hundreds of thousands of people in the Vinnitska, Khmelnytska, Dnipropetrovska, Zaporizhska, Odeska, Poltavska, Mykolayivska, Sumska, Rivnenska, Khersonska, Kharkivska, Cherkaska, Luhanska regions to access 1Gbit/s connectivity.
PJSC Ukrtelecom, which is one of the largest telecommunication companies in Ukraine,  has been undertaking a series of projects to replace copper connections with fibre and to expand the geographical reach of its network. This latest project involves laying more than 2,000km of cable, as well as other equipment, which is being assembled at Iskratel’s production centres in Slovenia.
Slovenian vendor Iskratel offers solutions for broadband access and aggregation include fibre and xDSL, along with a range of Innbox CPE. It has its own development and manufacturing centers in 30 locations and has customers in more than 50 countries.
Matyazh Alyanchich, Director of Iskratel Access Division, notes that projects funded by investment banks are playing an increasingly important role in the development of broadband Internet in Europe. In this case, financing is being provided by SID Bank to the tune of UAH200 million (£6 million). SID Bank is a successor of the Slovenian Export Corporation, Ljubljana and was founded in 1992. In 2006 it acquired a license from the Bank of Slovenia and was transformed into a specialised bank to facilitate exports and development.
Yuriy Kurmaz, CEO of Ukrtelecom, commented: “Being the largest telco operator of Ukraine has provided a unique opportunity in attracting European financial and production partners to a project which aims to bridge the digital divide in Ukraine. At this stage, the building of the network is proceeding according to plan and work has begun in the Kharkiv region. The situation around the coronavirus pandemic has not affected the planned activities of the project.”

  1. […] news follows hard on the heels of Iskratel’s recent partnership with Ukrtelecom and SID Bank to build a fibre network to more than 200 localities across Ukraine, connecting rural regions […]

  2. […] of rural areas,” he noted. The news follows hard on the heels of Iskratel’s recent partnership with Ukrtelecom and SID Bank to build a fibre network to more than 200 localities across Ukraine, connecting rural regions […]