​Kremlin-separatist area gets its own mobile operator (UPDATED)

“On May 27, I noticed my phone showing the
name “25599” in the list of available mobile operators,” says Rychkov.

The screenshot of Oleksandr Rychkov’s phone from May 27.

According to the official account on the website of the ministry of communications of the Kremlin-separatist zone on May
20, 75 percent of Donetsk separatists’ territory is already covered by its own
mobile operator called Feniks. Its SIM cards haven’t been distributed yet so
there are no subscribers so far.

By the end of summer, though, 300,000 Feniks’
SIM cards will be on sale, according to Viktor Yatsenko, the separatists’
communications minister, on the separatist ministry’s Vkontakte page. Soon some 10,000 SIM
cards will be distributed freely in terms of network testing. The ministry’s
message also notes that the set up of the network started in September and now
there are around 270 base stations already exploited to provide Feniks’
coverage.

Rychkov guesses that all the base stations are
in fact former property of Kyivstar, one of the three largest mobile operators
in Ukraine who officially gave up all its base stations controlled by Russian
separatists on the territories of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts.

On April 18 Alexander Zakharchenko, the
separatist leader, issued a decree stating that all
equipment that Kyivstar gave up on the Russian-controlled territory falls under
the control of the separatists in order to “meet the needs of the population in
the communication services”.

Petro Ivanov, the head of corporate
communications at Kyivstar, says the equipment that Kyivstar left behind would
not be enough to build a new mobile network from scratch.

“Even if some independent GSM-network does
appear in Donetsk, it will signal that most likely the equipment for managing
the network on the occupied base stations has been brought from the outside and
qualified personnel, probably from abroad, was engaged in setting it up,”
Ivanov says.

On June 5 Petro Chernyshov, the Kyivstar’s president, posted a photo of a new operator’s advertisement on his Facebook page.

“It’s just robbery,” said Chernyshov’s post. “Someone calling himself a ‘republican mobile operator’ just stole our equipment and decided to earn money on it.” Chernyshov also expressed his doubts whether it is possible to come back to the separatist-controlled area as long as “so-called DPR and LPR are still working there”.

The photo of the new mobile operator’s advertisement posted by Petro Chernyshov, the head of Kyivstar mobile operator, on his Facebook page on June 5. The advertisement says “Dear subscribers! Due to the shutdown of Kyivstar’s services on DPR’s territory, the Internet services will be provided by the republican mobile operator from now on. Those subscribers, who subscribed earlier and wish to continue using services, need to register in their personal account. For those who wish to subscribe or receive consultation, contact: +380507772844.” The advertisement offers prices in Russian rubles and hryvnias.

According to Rychkov, after the operator
starts working and SIM cards are distributed, it will be possible to see the
affiliation of the operator with Russian operators. Being unrecognized globally
as a state, the Kremlin-separatist fighters cannot get their own dialing
country code.

“Until now all this cooperation with Russia
had informal status. The humanitarian aid could not be confirmed as an act of
formal recognition by Russia,” Rychkov says. But as soon as the separatist
operator “negotiates with Russia to get its country code, it will serve as
a formal recognition of the affiliation with Russia,” he says.

Kyiv Post staff writer Bozhena Sheremeta can be reached at sheremeta@kyivpost.com. The Kyiv Post’s IT coverage is sponsored by AVentures Capital, Ciklum, FISON and SoftServe.