Ukraine’s National Commission for the State Regulation of Communications & Informatization (NCCIR) has reserved spectrum in the 2.3GHz-2.4GHz and 2.5GHz-2.7GHz bands for upcoming competitive auctions for 4G LTE mobile broadband licences, it confirmed on its website. The NCCIR intends to hold a tender for a nationwide licence in the 2.3GHz-2.4GHz range; frequencies in this band are currently held by a company named S-Line, but the NCCIR has refused to renew S-Line’s licence which expires on 20 April 2016, BizLiga writes. TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database notes that Ukraine’s cellular market leader Kyivstar would theoretically have gained access to the 2.3GHz-2.4GHz spectrum, as it indirectly inherited the resource through the merger of Golden Telecom (now part of Kyivstar) and S-Line (itself backed by Russian businessman Yevgeny Roitman, according to BizLiga).
In the 2.5GH-2.7GHz band, the NCCIR has decided to pursue a regional licensing competition in certain areas of the country. Various licences in this band are currently held by MMDS Ukraine, an associate company of Rinat Akhmetov’ SCM Group, the parent of nationwide incumbent telco Ukrtelecom, and a recent Kiev court decision overruled the watchdog in its attempts to block MMDS Ukraine from renewing its concessions.