In April 2002 Ukrtelekom, the incumbent operator in the local telephony sector with a market share of over 80%, stepped up its fight against operators who provide internet protocol (IP) telephony services without the appropriate licence.
An official letter issued by the Anti-monopoly Committee of Ukraine confirms that Ukrtelekom's recent disconnection of several local operators from its network was lawful. The letter states that during inspections Ukrtelekom discovered that some international traffic had been disguised as local, and responded in accordance with the traffic-routing regulations established by the State Committee on Communications and Information.
As this problem has now been resolved, the operators' access to Ukrtelekom's network has been restored, and the parties have signed a memorandum preventing IP telephony service providers from using their networks without a long-distance IP telephony licence.
For further information on this topic please contact Igor Svechkar or Olena Repkina at Shevchenko, Didkovskiy & Partners by telephone (+380 44 230 6000) or by fax (+380 44 230 6001) or by email ([email protected]).