Ukrainian telco Kyivstar has restored mobile internet services as well as voice services and fixed-broadband internet connectivity after its network was taken down by a massive cyberattack, but full recovery may still be a few weeks away.
In a Facebook post on Saturday, Kyivstar said that mobile internet for all services, including 4G, had been restored, with more than 95% of mobile network base stations in the territory controlled by Ukraine now active and working.
Kyivstar also said that international roaming services have also been restored as of Saturday.
Last Thursday, two days after the cyberattack, Kyivstar said it had restored voice service across the country, and that data connectivity on the fixed network is now active and available.
Kyivstar said that it is restoring other services gradually to avoid network congestion and to stabilise operations as they progress. The operator warned that the actual experience of customers will vary depending on various factors.
Kyivstar also advised customers that if their SIM card doesn’t connect with the mobile network, they’ll need to reboot their phone and find the network manually. They should also turn airplane mode on and then off again.
Kyivstar’s parent company Veon said in a statement that it has not yet been able to assess the full financial impact of Tuesday’s cyberattack as restoration of services continue.
According to Reuters, Kyivstar CEO Oleksandr Komarov said on national television Thursday that the operator hopes to have all voice, SMS and mobile data services fully operational by the end of the week. However, he added that restoring all other services could take several weeks.
The cyberattack – believed to be the largest in Ukraine since Russia invaded the country in February 2022 – knocked out services for all of Kyivstar’s 24.3 million mobile subscribers and over 1.1 million home Internet users. The attack also damaged IT infrastructure, silenced air-raid-alert systems in some parts of the country, and made shops unable to process credit card payments.