Ukrainian Network Operators That Meet Income Threshold Can Reserve All Employees from Conscription

Internet providers and mobile operators can reserve 100 percent of their employees to ensure connection stability if the companies meet a set income threshold and are deemed to be of national significance.

“Thanks to the changes in the decree, mobile operators and large Internet providers that meet the requirements of the National Center for Operational and Technical Management of Electronic Communication Networks of Ukraine (NCU) regarding the provision of Internet access during power outages will be able to book 100 percent of employees,” read a Ministry of Digital Transformation press release on Friday. 

Under the decree, mobile operators with more than Hr.200 million ($4.8 million) in income and network providers with more than Hr.20 million ($486,758) in income, after receiving the status of criticality, can reserve all of their employees, who have worked for the company full-time for at least 3 months, from military conscription.

Internet service providers with the status of criticality but with income below Hr.20 million a month will be able to reserve more than 50 percent of their technical staff of workers. The press release did not list an upper limit of personnel eligible.

“This is possible if the provider has formed emergency recovery teams to service networks and subscribers, has technological transport, equipment and materials necessary to maintain the operation of networks during power outages, restore networks during their destruction, and provides services in the territories of Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Kyiv, Luhansk, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Poltava, Sumy, Kharkiv, Kherson, Chernihiv regions and in Kyiv,” the press release added.

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In Ukraine, mobile connection often deteriorates during blackouts caused by Russian attacks on power infrastructure due to overloads on mobile towers when household routers are switched off, which in turn places further load on mobile towers and accelerates their power consumption.

While most household internet providers have installed backup energy sources in residential buildings that last for four hours or more, locals still require power to their routers at home to access household internet.

On July 3, President Volodymyr Zelensky ordered an audit to examine mobile network availability and stability during blackouts and identify any non-compliance with government-mandated guidelines on backup power sources.

Later, the NCU published an order that requires operators to ensure backup power for communications equipment in multiple stages, as Kyiv Post reported on July 18

However, network operators noted at the time that refueling backup generators for cell towers during blackouts was difficult due to their sheer number across the nation. Market representatives told Forbes Ukraine that fully implementing the requirements might cost up to Hr.3 billion ($73 million) in hiring and procurement costs.