Kyivstar posted third-quarter revenue of $349 million, up 17.5% year over year, and EBITDA of $189 million, up 10.3%. Vodafone Ireland plans to start 5G standalone trials this year and aims to cover more than 70% of the Irish population by 2028 (via Light Reading).
Kyivstar also said mobile ARPU rose 8.6% to $4, data usage increased 20%, and 4G penetration reached 71.5%. Broadband customers grew 11.3% to 1.3 million.
The operator said an open access agreement with Ukrtelecom lets it serve residential internet customers over Ukrtelecom’s fiber network. Kyivstar President Oleksandr Komarov said, “Our network stayed online even in the most demanding conditions.”
Vodafone Ireland said the 5G standalone trials will begin in Limerick and Shannon, then expand to Cork, Dublin, Galway, and Waterford next year. Vodafone says 5G standalone supports network slicing, and it plans to use that capability to reserve capacity for critical applications or specific user groups.
Droam Perspective
For telecom buyers watching network upgrades and service growth, this brief shows two separate execution tracks. Kyivstar is pairing revenue and usage gains with an open access fiber arrangement, while Vodafone Ireland is still in the trial phase on 5G standalone and is laying out a phased rollout path with slicing in the mix.