UKRAINE - України

• "Про затвердження Переліку радіоелектронних засобів та випромінювальних пристроїв, для експлуатації яких не потрібні дозволи на експлуатацію" [Law for creating a list of radio resources and radiating devices for which permission to exploit is not needed], Document number 1297-07 (6 September 2007), in Ukrainian. Includes a table identifying the bands allocated to license-exempt radio applications, power limits and other technical specifications. Mainly this transposes European Union norms.
• "Law of Ukraine on the Radio Frequency Resource" in English and Ukrainian. The English translation is from the law as of 6 November 2004; the Ukrainian version has later amendments. In the English version, Article 30 para. 8 says: "Cordless telephones, mobile phones, radio microphones, radio controlled toys and other radio electronic devices and emitters whose types are specified by NCRC in the relevant list are operated (used) in the territory of Ukraine and brought from abroad without permits on the free of charge basis."
• Національна комісія з питань регулювання зв'язку України (National Commission for Communications Regulation of Ukraine - the acronym in Ukrainian is NKRC) The 2003 Law on Telecommunications called for creation of NKRC, but its early days were turbulent and the current form of the organization was not achieved until 2005. See GIPI Ukraine's short history of NKRC for background.

  "The main tasks of [NKRC] include... licensing [and] state control over the usage of radio frequency resource of Ukraine... coordination of works concerning confirmation of radioelectronic devices [conformance] produced in Ukraine and imported from abroad; international coordination and international legal protection of frequency assignment of Ukraine with other countries; providing radio frequency resource conversion of Ukraine within radio frequency zones for general use...

  "According to the Law, the State Communication Inspectorate shall be created within the [NKRC] and the Ukrainian State Center of Radio Frequencies [UCRF] shall be transferred from the Ministry of Transport and Communications to management of the [NKRC]..."

  "[NKRC] as an independent regulating body in the sphere of communications complies with the directives of the European Union and General Agreement of the World Trade Organization (GATT WTO)..."

• "Кабмин назначил нового председателя НКРС," (Cabinet appoints a new chairman of NKRC), by Sergei Apasov, President.org.ua, 22 March 2007, in Russian: The government appointed Vladimir Zverev as Chairman of the National Commission for Regulation of Communications and the Cabinet of Ministers appointed Minister of Transport and Communications Nikolai Rudkovsky as NKRC's President. NKRC is accountable to Ukraine's President.
• Рішення N° 459: "Про затвердження проекту Положення про порядок узгодження присвоєнь радіочастот радіоелектронним засобам у смугах радіочастот загального користування" (Decision Number 459 "on the project of drafting a statute about rules for allocating frequencies to radioelectronic stations in bands for general use"), 17 November 2006. Responding to Cabinet of Ministers decision 20739/7/1-06 (13 October 2006), which directed NKRC to add "general use" bands to the national table of frequency allocations. We understand that to mean bands for use under a "general authorization" regime.
• "Про затвердження Ліцензійних умов користування радіочастотним ресурсом України" (Concerning license applications to use Ukraine's radiofrequency resource), Decision No. 53, 19 August 2005.
• Кабмин постановлением № 815 принял "Порядок распределения радиочастотного ресурса (РЧР)," [Plan for using the radio frequency resource of Ukraine], Cabinet Order No. 815 (9 June 2006) in Ukrainian. The national allocations table. See also "New radio plan adopted in Ukraine," openspectrum.info, 13 June 2006.
• "WiMAX, которого нет" [WiMAX, which is not] by I. Popov, Network and Telecommunications, issue 4/2005, in Russian. This article discusses problems in Ukraine's policies for developing broadband wireless. It focuses on the 5 GHz band, but the author also notes that at the time of writing, there were 200+ licenses for public Wi-Fi services in Ukraine, encompassing about 2500 base stations. Licensing in the 2.4 GHz band is supposed to end in 2009, he added.
• "Ukraine Plays Catch-up in an Increasingly WiFi World," by Lua Pottier, Ukraine Observer (October 2006) in English.
• The January-February 2006 issue of the ICT Policy Events Digest (published by the Global Internet Policy Initiative's Ukraine office) reports on a "Roundtable on Problems in the Use of Limited Resources in the Sphere of Telecommunications" in Kiev. According to the report, representatives of the National Commission on Communication Regulation said RLANs will be authorized to use the 5.150-5.250 GHz band under a class license, and that 2.4 GHz is expected to become available for license-free use between 2008 and 2010.
• "Про користування радіочастотним ресурсом України у смузі 2400-2483,5 МГц" {Concerning utilization of Ukraine's radiofrequency resource in the band 2400 - 2483.5 MHz), Decision no. 441, 9 November 2006; NKRC surveyed the use of this band in Kyiv, Kharkov, Dnepropetrovsk, Donetsk, Odessa, Lvov and the Crimea and concluded that unlicensed outdoor spread spectrum communications in those areas is not feasible. In fact, they recommend increased monitoring to prevent unlicensed use, but note that whenever existing licenses terminate, other access regimes can be considered - like free use or use upon registration.
• "Metro.WiFi - городская сеть со скоростью до 300 мегабит в секунду - запущена в Украине," [Metro.WiFi - city network runs at speeds of up to 300 megabits per second in Ukraine] by German Bogapov, HighTech Expert, 18 May 2007, in Russian: The "Metro.WiFi-city" network is based on the preliminary version of IEEE 802.11n, a new generation of wireless technology which provides access speeds of 80 to 300 Mbps. It is a "WiFi.IN.UA" development project, started last year by an alliance of wireless and mobile operators with the support of the Association "Wireless Ukraine." Wi-Fi is available today in several parts of Ukraine - indoors (in cafes, restaurants, airports, hotels, etc.). The new Metro.WiFi network's license enables users to access the Internet in the street, at work or at home using a Wi-Fi equipped laptop, smartphone or desktop PC without any contracts or agreements with operators. As Oleg Sobolev (executive director of Wireless Ukraine) explained, now anybody can connect anywhere in the coverage area, using his account and card replenishment from mobile operators UMC, Kyivstar and Beeline. Discussions are underway with other operators. Last week the Metro.WiFi network launched several pilot zones in Kiev with access speeds of 80 to 300 Mbps. According to Alexander Mandrykin, chairman of "Wireless Ukraine," such projects will revolutionize the wireless communications market in Ukraine.
• "В период с 03 по 05 июля 2007 г. на базе Украинского государственного центра радиочастот (УГЦР) проходил Семинар МСЭ «Экономические аспекты управления использованием радиочастотного спектра на национальном уровне»," [ITU seminar on the economic aspects of radio frequency management at the national level, Kiev, Ukraine, 3-5 July 2007], UCRF, in Russian with summary in English.
• "Развитие беспроводных технологий может затормозиться," [The development of wireless technologies may be hampered] by Irina Bohno, Wireless Ukraine (via Broadband.org.ua), 23 June 2006, in Russian and Ukrainian. This article describes an extraordinary situation in which the regulator issued a license for the 3.6 GHz band, without any auction or comparative hearing, while briefly withholding the text of a new table of frequency allocations, claiming that the table had "grammatical errors." Other carriers were thus kept "in the dark" about an "opaque" action which will delay the introduction of WiMAX in that band by 10 years.
• "Кабмин занялся вопросом конверсии радиочастот" (CabMin studied the question of radio frequency conversion), Подробности (Podrobnosti [Details]), 9 November 2005, in Russian: the Cabinet of Ministers directed the National Commission for Questions of Communications Reform, the Ministry of Transport and Communication and the Treasury Board to prepare proposals on converting radiofrequencies from governmental to non-governmental use. Only 0.5% of frequencies are now for exclusive nongovernmental use; the government wants to increase this to at least 70%.
• "75-процентная конверсия" [75 percent converted] by Natalia Vedeneeva, ComNews, 23 April 2007 in Russian: 75 percent of the frequencies allotted to the military will soon be available for commercial use. According to Oleg Sobolev, executive director of the Association of Commercial Wireless Data Networks (Wireless Ukraine), these ranges will include 2.3 and 2.5 GHz, 3.6 - 3.8 GHz, 5.25 - 5.35 GHz, 5.15 - 5.25 GHz and 5.75 - 5.85 GHz. But the details of when and how frequencies will become available are constantly changing. Prospective operators have expressed interest in putting up money to accelerate the conversion, but the law says only public funds should be used for conversion and the budget has not been finalized.
• "Кабмин утвердил новую таблицу распределения полос радиочастот" (Cabinet of Ministers affirmed the new table of frequency allocations) IT proUA, 14 December 2005 in Russian: the biggest change is re-allotting large blocks of frequencies from defense/security to civilian/business use.
• "Кабмин установил размер платы за пользование радиочастотным ресурсом," (Cabmin establishes fees for the use of radiofrequency resources) ProIT UA, 24 February 2006 (in Russian). This article lists the fees, service by service.
• "Радиочастоты: платят все" (Radio: All Pay) by B. Basmanova, Telekom, 2005/3, in Russian: This is a survey of spectrum user fees, how they are calculated, and exemption/discount policies in Russia, Tajikistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.
• "Порядок використання в Україні смуги радіочастот 2400-2483,5 МГц РЕЗ системи передавання даних з ШПС" (in Ukrainian). This appears to be a summary of UCRF rules for importing 2.4 GHz WLAN equipment into the Ukraine.
• "Проект концепції державної цільової програми конверсії радіочастотного ресурсу України на 2006-2015 роки" (Project of conceptualizing the special program of conversion of Ukraine's radiofrequency resources during the years 2006-2015), May 2005, 4 pages in Ukrainian - public consultation document about the transfer of bands from military to civilian use.
• "На пороге беспроводного будущего" (On the Threshold of the Wireless Future), ITware Ukraine, 30 April 2003, in Russian:

  "...in our country there are many underground operators of [wifi] connections... if the device itself costs about $10, the customs duty is in the range of about 75 to 150 Euros for each piece (assuming it is declared as standard radio equipment)... Furthermore, for network operators, it is necessary to pay for licenses in each region where they plan to install wireless equipment, and also for each base station, for each subscriber, and for the use of frequencies. The total cost is quite big enough, taking into account that to obtain a license, to pass certification and to obtain any other permissive documents in our country is not so simple..."

• "WiFi (802.11b) Update: Uzbekistan, Ukraine," US Embassy cable, May 2003: "Ukraine is not planning to use low-power devices for WI-FI technologies without licenses and corresponding permits..."
• "Wi-Fi от Укртелекома" (Wi-Fi from UkrTelekom), ITUA, 1 November 2004 in Russian. Excerpts: the state telecom operator, UkrTelekom, intends to dominate the market for wireless Internet access in public places with its "RadioSpot" service, which was announced in February 2004. This type of service requires multiple licenses for each site, making it easier for a single integrator/operator to create and manage hotspots for many clients. The first commercial hotspot was installed at the Babuin bookstore/cafe in Kyiv. At the 2nd annual "Wireless Ukraine" trade show (21-22 October 2004), Vladislav Khmarnyy, head of UkrTelekom's division of promising technologies, said "RadioSpot" expects to install 50-200 access points in Kyiv, plus more in other large cities, at hotels, restaurants, cafes, airports, etc. Market research in other countries suggests that "RadioSpot" may eventually have up to 200,000 regular users.
• "«Укртелеком» расширяет сеть Wi-Fi," [ Ukrtelecom expanding Wi-Fi network], Broadband.org.ua, 5 May 2008, in Russian: Ukrtelecom announces expansion of its "RadioSpot" service in the Volyn region, Kharkiv and Sevastopol.
• "URS expands wi-fi coverage to 9 cities," by Carla Moore, DM Europe, 29 March 2007: "Mobile operator Ukrainian Radio Systems (URS) has expanded its wi-fi service to nine Ukrainian cities..."
• "UMC expands Wi-Fi coverage in the South of Ukraine," Mobile Monday, 28 June 2007 in English: "...UMC subscribers are able to use an innovative service of high speed Internet access already in 12 Ukrainian cities... Today Wi-Fi service from UMC can be used in 47 spots based in large trade and business centres, hotels, cafes and restaurants of major Ukrainian cities. UMC became the first company among Ukrainian mobile operators that launched Wi-Fi revenue service for its subscribers in June 2006. During the last year the service was used by more than 9,500 subscribers..."
• "Kyivstar and Velton receive nationwide Wi-Fi licences," Telegeography, 7 June 2007: "Ukrainian telecoms regulator the National Commission on Communications (NCCR) has awarded Kyivstar, the country's largest cellco by subscribers, and CDMA WiLL operator Velton Telecom, national licences to provide public wireless internet access. The licensing is designed to support a plan to roll out Wi-Fi networks covering all regional centres by 2010." [NOTE: We have not yet found any Ukrainian sources confirming this report.]
• "Wi-Fi в Киеве: Путеводитель по публичным точкам доступа" [Wi-fi in Kiev: Guide to the public points of access], ITC Online, June 2007, in Ukrainian: extremely nice presentation with addresses, prices, short site descriptions and interior photos, interviews with regular users and market experts, and a city map showing the locations of 24 hotspots. Mirotel was said to be the best Wi-fi network operator.
• Wireless Ukraine, an "open voluntary self-governing association for participants in the market for wireless data transmission networks" (website all in Ukrainian).
• WiFi антенна (WiFi Antenna) - forum for discussing technical and regulatory aspects of nonstandard WiFi antennas - in Russian.
• Full text of "Про радіочастотний ресурс України" (The Law on Radio Resources") approved by parliament on 24 June 2004 (in Ukrainian). It superceded this law from the year 2000 (translated into English). Here is an online archive of Ukrainian-language background materials, drafts and analyses of the new law, compiled by Maria Shkarlat, the Global Internet Policy Initiative's coordinator for Ukraine.
• RFID.com.ua is a small informational site (all in Russian) that does not promote any particular company's products. See also the Ukrainian-language RFID webpage at Smartcard.com.ua.

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