Ukraine Communications - 2023

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES 

Telephones - fixed lines

total subscriptions: 2.3 million (2021 est.)

subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 6 (2021 est.)

Telephones - mobile cellular

total subscriptions: 56 million (2021 est.)

subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 140 (2021 est.)

Telecommunication systems

general assessment: there has been considerable damage and destruction to the communications infrastructure in more than 10 out of 24 regions of Ukraine since the war started (2023)

domestic: fixed-line teledensity is 6 per 100; the mobile-cellular telephone is 140 mobile phones per 100 persons (2021)

international: country code - 380; landing point for the Kerch Strait Cable connecting Ukraine to Russia; 2 new domestic trunk lines are a part of the fiber-optic TAE system and 3 Ukrainian links have been installed in the fiber-optic TEL project that connects 18 countries; additional international service is provided by the Italy-Turkey-Ukraine-Russia (ITUR) fiber-optic submarine cable and by an unknown number of earth stations in the Intelsat, Inmarsat, and Intersputnik satellite systems

Broadcast media

Ukraine’s media landscape is dominated by oligarch-owned news outlets, which are often politically motivated and at odds with one another and/or the government; while polls suggest most Ukrainians still receive news from traditional media sources, social media is a crucial component of information dissemination in Ukraine; almost all Ukrainian politicians and opinion leaders communicate with the public via social media and maintain at least one social media page, if not more; this allows them direct communication with audiences, and news often breaks on Facebook or Twitter before being picked up by traditional news outlets; Kyiv created a unified news platform to broadcast news about the war following Russia's full-scale invasion; the government's "United News" television marathon is a round-the clock framework which untied the Ukrainian public broadcaster and top commercial TV channels' programming; Ukraine television serves as the principal source of news; the largest national networks are controlled by oligarchs: Studio 1+1 is owned by Ihor Kolomoyskyy; Inter is owned by Dmytro Firtash and Serhiy Lyovochkin; and StarlightMedia channels (ICTV, STB, and Novyi Kanal) are owned by Victor Pinchuk;  a set of 24-hour news channels also have clear political affiliations: pro-Ukrainian government Channel 5 and Pryamyi are linked to President Petro Poroshenko; 24 is owned by opposition, but not pro-Russian, politicians; UA: Suspilne is a public television station under the umbrella of the National Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine; while it is often praised by media experts for balanced coverage, it lags in popularity; Ukrainian Radio, institutionally linked to UA: Suspilne, is one of only two national talk radio networks, with the other being the privately owned Radio NV (2021)

Internet country code

.ua

Internet users

total: 3.239 million (2021 est.)

percent of population: 79% (2021 est.)

Broadband - fixed subscriptions

total: 7,769,401 (2020 est.)

subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 19 (2020 est.)

Communications - note

a sorting code to expeditiously handle large volumes of mail was first set up in Ukraine in the 1930s (then the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, part of the Soviet Union); the sophisticated, three-part (number-letter-number) postal code system, referred to as an "index," was the world's first postal zip code; the system functioned well and was in use from 1932 to 1939 when it was abruptly discontinued

NOTE: The information regarding Ukraine on this page is re-published from the 2023 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Ukraine 2023 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Ukraine 2023 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.