Within the scope of this agreement, Starlink via satellite direct cellular connection (Direct-to-Cell) service, 2025 in the fourth quarter of SMS and OTT messaging functionality will begin to be offered to Kyivstar customers. In the future stages voice communications and data services are planned to be added.
VEON Group CEO’su Kaan Terziogluemphasized that with this partnership, Ukraine will become one of the world’s leading countries in connection resilience. Kyivstar CEO Oleksandr Komarov stated that this technology is an important step towards achieving the company’s “LTE everywhere” goal.
Starlink started launching its first satellites that provide direct mobile phone connectivity earlier this year. Starlink, which has made agreements for this service with eight different countries, including the USA, Japan and New Zealand, has determined Ukraine as the first conflict zone where it will offer this technology. Starlink recently rolled out its DTC service in beta in the US and New Zealand.
Starlink’s internet connection provides critical infrastructure for both the population and military of war-torn Ukraine. However, this has led Russia to step up its efforts to block signals between Starlink satellites and ground terminals since 2022.
Although the financial details of the agreement are not disclosed, the strengthening of Starlink’s presence in Ukraine once again reveals Elon Musk’s strategic role in the region. According to Axios, Musk attended a meeting between the new US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in November and stated that he would continue to provide Starlink services to Ukraine.
Source
https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/starlink-roll-out-direct-to-cell-services-ukraine-2024-12-30/
https://www.veon.com/newsroom/press-releases/in-a-groundbreaking-agreement-veon-and-starlink-to-bring-starlink-direct-to-cell-satellite-connectivity-to-kyivstar-customers
This news our mobile application Download using
You can read it whenever you want (even offline):