Latest news with #Kyivstar
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Ukraine to offer mobile phone data in partnership with Elon Musk's Starlink
A Ukrainian mobile operator claims to be the first company in Europe to test satellite internet that goes directly to a cell phone. Kyivstar announced earlier this month that direct to cell (DTC) testing had started with Elon Musk's SpaceX, the parent company of Starlink. During the test, mobile phones with 4G or LTE networks connected directly to a satellite in orbit so they could send and receive text messages. The eventual Starlink partnership will give Ukrainians access to the internet in so-called 'white spots,' regions that don't get traditional mobile coverage including mountainous and rural areas. The company said the DTC connection is 'especially important in wartime when infrastructure may be damaged or power outages may occur'. Related Eutelsat in talks to increase satellite terminals in Ukraine amid Starlink service concern Kyivstar CEO Oleksandr Komarov confirmed to Reuters that Starlink-powered mobile connections will become available by mid-2026. Starlink has been used by Ukrainian military and civilians since March 2022, when Musk agreed to ship kits for the internet network directly to homes. However, the use of Starlink during the war has been met with backlash. Reuters reported in February that Musk had threatened to turn off the satellites if Ukraine did not make a deal with the United States on critical minerals. Musk later denied the claims, saying that Starlink will 'never turn off its terminals,' in Ukraine. Euronews Next reached out to SpaceX and Kyivstar but did not get an immediate reply. European authorities have been testing several companies to see whether they could become a replacement for Musk's Starlink in Ukraine. In March, Euronews Next reported that satellite operator Eutelsat was in talks to increase its satellite capability in Ukraine in response to the threats from Musk. The Franco-British company has more than 630 satellites moving in low-Earth orbit around the world that offer the 'same capacities' as Starlink for coverage and response time, a spokesperson for the company said at the time. Eutelsat is already being used in Ukraine to 'support government and institutional communications,' the company added. Related Govsatcom, Eutelsat, Iris2: Ukraine seeks European alternatives to Starlink Another alternative that Europe is considering is the IRIS2 project, a network of 290 satellites in low and medium Earth orbit that could offer ultra-fast transmission services for users. Christophe Grudler, rapporteur for the project at the European Parliament, previously told Euronews that IRIS2 should be operational by 2028, two years before the initial launch date of 2030. It was not immediately clear whether Starlink's expansion would affect those plans. Euronews Next reached out to Eutelsat and the consortium behind IRIS2 but did not immediately hear back.
Euronews
4 days ago
- Business
- Euronews
Ukraine more dependent on Musk with Kyivstar-Starlink, experts say
Ukraine's largest mobile operator, Kyivstar, started testing direct-to-cell (DTC) service satellite messaging services with Elon Musk's Starlink last week. Mobile phones with 4G or LTE networks will be connected directly to Starlink satellites in orbit so they can send and receive text messages. The eventual network, to launch mid-2026, will give Ukrainians access to cell service in mountainous and rural areas of the country. Experts told Euronews Next that the partnership is 'a coherent move' for Ukraine despite deepening the country's reliance on Musk, who has threatened in the past to shut down services in the country. 'There are obviously concerns about tech sovereignty because then you will only be depending on one provider, Starlink … but sovereignty at this point becomes a second priority … priority number one is winning the war,' said Dario Garcia de Viedma, fellow of technology and digital policy at the Elcano Royal Institute think tank in Spain. 'Ukraine is definitely making sovereignty concessions to win the war and so is Europe'. An 'extreme reliance' on Starlink in Ukraine Starlink is a constellation of over 7,800 satellites that orbit roughly 550 kilometres from the Earth to deliver high-speed internet. Each transmits data like a fiber optic cable from the satellites to ground receivers, making the internet accessible in remote places where current telephone towers would be difficult to build. The advantage of Starlink in Ukraine is that the terminals that receive the signal are 'relatively small, the size of a book,' making them easy to transport, said Jan Frederik Slijkerman, senior credit sector strategist at the forecaster ING Think '[Starlink] has excellent connectivity, good portability and normal pricing for broadband,' he said. Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine's minister for digital transformation in Ukraine, appealed to Musk two days after the Russian escalation in February 2022 for Starlink terminals. The country had its first kits, comprised of the terminals, a kickstand, a router and various cables, delivered six days later. An update from Fedorov in April said 50,000 Starlink terminals in Ukraine are being used to keep the country's railways, schools and hospitals online in case the power goes out following a Russian attack. Starlink services have also been used by the Ukrainian military to communicate on the ground, such as in the 2022 Aerorozvidka mission against Russian forces that used Starlink to keep Delta online, the military's combat control and information processing system, during power outages. Garcia de Viedma said this has created an 'extreme reliance' on Starlink's satellite internet during the war that cannot be changed for a new alternative in the short term. 'Unless [Ukrainian forces] communicate with smoke or with pigeons, I think that there's no way they can win the war without communication - so the dependence is already there,' he said. In March, reports surfaced that Musk was considering turning off the Starlink terminals to force Ukraine to sign a $500 billion (€430.34 billion) deal with US President Donald Trump on rare earth minerals. Musk said at the time that he would 'never turn off [Starlink] terminals,' no matter how much he disagreed with Ukrainian policy and would never use them as 'a bargaining chip'. 'Work on alternatives' Garcia de Viedma said the Kyivstar deal could be a way to lock Musk in to prevent him from actually withdrawing the satellites. If Musk is able to tap Kyivstar's customer base to make more money in the country instead of just through military deals, Dario said it will be harder for him to justify disconnecting the satellites. Still, Garcia de Viedma and Slijkerman believe that Ukraine needs some sort of redundancy plan or diversify how it offers internet services i to continue making deals with Starlink and Musk. 'Yes that is a risk [shutting off the satellites] and I don't know if they got renewed reassurances,' Slijkerman said. 'But I believe [working] on alternatives makes sense'. One thing that can be done is restricting the Starlink-Kyivstar partnerships to hard-to-reach areas, not extending it to customers in Ukraine's cities, Garcia de Viedma said. If they do, the customers in cities would have to have a way to still connect to 4G and LTE connections 'as a backup,' he added. Another way to diversify the internet connections would be to connect with a European alternative to Starlink, like Franco-British Eutelsat or the EU's IRIS2, Slijkerman said. However, he noted that Starlink is still well ahead of its competitors on the launch model, the number of satellites in operation, and its customer base (estimated at 6 million by the company in July).
Euronews
10-07-2025
- Business
- Euronews
Ukraine to offer mobile internet via satellite in European first
A Ukrainian mobile operator claims to be the first company in Europe to test satellite internet that goes directly to a cell phone. Kyivstar announced earlier this month that direct to cell (DTC) testing had started with Elon Musk's SpaceX, the parent company of Starlink. During the test, mobile phones with 4G or LTE networks connected directly to a satellite in orbit so they could send and receive text messages. The eventual Starlink partnership will give Ukrainians access to the internet in so-called 'white spots,' regions that don't get traditional mobile coverage including mountainous and rural areas. The company said the DTC connection is 'especially important in wartime when infrastructure may be damaged or power outages may occur'. Kyivstar CEO Oleksandr Komarov confirmed to Reuters that Starlink-powered mobile connections will become available by mid-2026. Starlink has been used by Ukrainian military and civilians since March 2022, when Musk agreed to ship kits for the internet network directly to homes. However, the use of Starlink during the war has been met with backlash. Reuters reported in February that Musk had threatened to turn off the satellites if Ukraine did not make a deal with the United States on critical minerals. Musk later denied the claims, saying that Starlink will 'never turn off its terminals,' in Ukraine. Euronews Next reached out to SpaceX and Kyivstar but did not get an immediate reply. European alternatives to Starlink European authorities have been testing several companies to see whether they could become a replacement for Musk's Starlink in Ukraine. In March, Euronews Next reported that satellite operator Eutelsat was in talks to increase its satellite capability in Ukraine in response to the threats from Musk. The Franco-British company has more than 630 satellites moving in low-Earth orbit around the world that offer the 'same capacities' as Starlink for coverage and response time, a spokesperson for the company said at the time. Eutelsat is already being used in Ukraine to 'support government and institutional communications,' the company added. Another alternative that Europe is considering is the IRIS2 project, a network of 290 satellites in low and medium Earth orbit that could offer ultra-fast transmission services for users. Christophe Grudler, rapporteur for the project at the European Parliament, previously told Euronews that IRIS2 should be operational by 2028, two years before the initial launch date of 2030. It was not immediately clear whether Starlink's expansion would affect those plans. Euronews Next reached out to Eutelsat and the consortium behind IRIS2 but did not immediately hear back.
Time of India
10-07-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Ukraine to launch Starlink mobile internet in 2026, becoming Europe's first, Kyivstar says
ROME: Ukraine will become the first European nation to offer Starlink mobile services when leading operator Kyivstar launches messaging by year-end and mobile satellite broadband in mid-2026, Chief Executive Oleksandr Komarov said. Field tests have begun under an end-2024 deal with Space X's commercial broadband constellation to allow tech entrepreneur Elon Musk's company to launch direct-to-cell services in the war-torn country. Direct-to-cell devices connect to satellites equipped with modems that function like a cellphone tower, beaming telephone signals from space directly to smartphones. "The first phase is over-the-top (OTT) messaging ... so messaging via WhatsApp, Signal, and other systems ... it will be in place at the end of this year," Komarov told Reuters in Rome. "And probably at the beginning of 2026, let's be on the safe side, Q2 2026, we will be able to propose mobile satellite broadband data ... and voice." SpaceX did not respond to an emailed request for comment. US carrier T-Mobile will introduce a data service on its satellite-to-cell network, powered by Starlink, at the start of October, the company said in June. Komarov was speaking ahead of a Ukraine recovery conference Italy is hosting three years after the Russian invasion, with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy also due to attend. He said his main aim at the conference, the fourth since the war began in February 2022, was to support the Ukrainian government and establish new business ties, some with Italian firms willing to expand in the country. Kyivstar, owned by telecoms group VEON, is also working towards a U.S. listing on the NASDAQ stock exchange. Komarov said the project was "moving forward" and hoped to finalise it in the third quarter of this year. "I think it will be an exemplary move," he added. "The first in history, the direct placement of (a) Ukrainian entity on the American stock exchange ... during the war." Komarov said Ukrainian telecom infrastructure was holding up well under Russia's escalating assaults in recent weeks. Last year one of its attacks on power grids and transmission lines caused daily blackouts in major cities after it knocked out about half Ukraine's available generation capacity. "I think that we are much more resilient than we used to be in 2022. Right now we can run our fixed and mobile services up to 10 hours during the blackouts, even national blackouts."
Reuters
10-07-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Ukraine to launch Starlink mobile internet in 2026, becoming Europe's first, Kyivstar says
ROME, July 10 (Reuters) - Ukraine will become the first European nation to offer Starlink mobile services when leading operator Kyivstar launches messaging by year-end and mobile satellite broadband in mid-2026, Chief Executive Oleksandr Komarov said. Field tests have begun under an end-2024 deal with Space X's commercial broadband constellation to allow tech entrepreneur Elon Musk's company to launch direct-to-cell services in the war-torn country. Direct-to-cell devices connect to satellites equipped with modems that function like a cellphone tower, beaming telephone signals from space directly to smartphones. "The first phase is over-the-top (OTT) messaging ... so messaging via WhatsApp, Signal, and other systems ... it will be in place at the end of this year," Komarov told Reuters in Rome. "And probably at the beginning of 2026, let's be on the safe side, Q2 2026, we will be able to propose mobile satellite broadband data ... and voice." SpaceX did not respond to an emailed request for comment. US carrier T-Mobile (TMUS.O), opens new tab will introduce a data service on its satellite-to-cell network, powered by Starlink, at the start of October, the company said in June. Komarov was speaking ahead of a Ukraine recovery conference Italy is hosting three years after the Russian invasion, with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy also due to attend. He said his main aim at the conference, the fourth since the war began in February 2022, was to support the Ukrainian government and establish new business ties, some with Italian firms willing to expand in the country. Kyivstar, owned by telecoms group VEON, is also working towards a U.S. listing on the NASDAQ stock exchange. Komarov said the project was "moving forward" and hoped to finalise it in the third quarter of this year. "I think it will be an exemplary move," he added. "The first in history, the direct placement of (a) Ukrainian entity on the American stock exchange ... during the war." Komarov said Ukrainian telecom infrastructure was holding up well under Russia's escalating assaults in recent weeks. Last year one of its attacks on power grids and transmission lines caused daily blackouts in major cities after it knocked out about half Ukraine's available generation capacity. "I think that we are much more resilient than we used to be in 2022. Right now we can run our fixed and mobile services up to 10 hours during the blackouts, even national blackouts."
