Energy & Sustainability

Kyivstar starts next phase of network backup-power upgrades

Kyivstar starts second phase of network backup-power upgrades

Ukrainian telco Kyivstar said on Wednesday that it has invested UAH1.9 billion (US$46 million) over the last two years to upgrade backup-power facilities for its network, the second phase of which is now underway.

Kyivstar’s owner Veon said in July it would install more energy infrastructure for Kyivstar to to bolster its energy resiliency to maintain crucial communication services and protect digital operations against extended blackouts caused by attacks on national energy infrastructure. The project has been a major focus for Kyivstar since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Kyivstar said that as of this month it has installed 124,000 new lithium batteries at base stations, which are also supported by close to 2,400 generators. Kyivstar said that over 68% of its mobile network has a four-hour backup-power supply.

The telco has also installed 50,000 uninterrupted power sources in 24,000 apartment buildings in 92 cities to keep its fixed broadband service running. Kyivstar also plans to install more powerful batteries to back up the fixed line service and continue to deploy GPON, which uses far less electricity than copper wires.

For the second phase of the project, which is now underway, Kyivstar plans to install 113,000 new batteries at base stations and 1,427 industrial generators.

Kyivstar's current goal is to enable 25% of its network to run entirely on generators, and achieve six-hour redundancy for all key facilities.

It is also focusing on critical telecoms facilities identified by the government’s National Security and Defense Council (NSDC), which are provided with enough backup power for at least three days in case of full-scale blackouts.

Kyivstar has also called on businesses with their own industrial generators to collaborate with telecoms operators to connect telecoms equipment to their facilities.



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