Subject area:                      Competitive Strategy, Corporate Level Strategy, Growth Strategy, International Business Strategy

Region:                                   Ukraine

Industry:                                Mobile and Data service

Company:                              Kyivstar

Decision Maker:                Oleksandr Komarov, CEO

Dilemma:

In 2024, Kyivstar, Ukraine’s largest mobile and data service provider at the time, offered a robust network infrastructure capable of supporting Ukraine’s current telecommunication needs and was projected to be able to fulfill future needs. Up until 2022, Kyivstar held almost 50% of the mobile market and approximately 17% of the fixed internet market. Oleksandr Komarov, the company’s CEO and key decision maker, was able to accomplish this feat by positioning the company as a customer-oriented business, adapting to consumer trends while making Kyivstar’s services accessible, reliable, and high quality. However, due to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Kyivstar’s telecommunications network faced a need for continuous repairs and updates to the existing structures to avoid blackouts. Following the displacement of people, Kyivstar continued to offer services and an additional core competency to its business model: HELSI.me, an online telemedicine platform for Ukrainian citizens.

Yet, in 2024, there was still uncertainty with Russia’s occupation of Ukraine, meaning that the company might not be able to sustain its business model for long without an assured revenue stream; without expansion, Kyivstar’s structure and stability could suffer and the company would no longer be able to offer aid to displaced Ukrainians. Even if its parent company, VEON, continued to offer investments aimed at supporting infrastructure, digital growth, and social initiatives for the reconstruction of Ukraine, Kyivstar needed to look to diversify its customer base in the form of globalization of markets to ensure it had enough capital to achieve its goal.

Given the company’s heroic focus on serving those impacted by the crisis, this limited the search for expansion to the countries immediately impacted by the invasion as well as countries that shared a similar view on helping those afflicted; rather than considering countries that were offering support from afar, it would be more ideal to look at countries in a close proximity to Ukraine.

Despite having to stall projects due to the war, Kyivstar set its sights on improving and rebuilding Ukraine. This entire company’s dedication was most likely a result of the leader’s stance and goal that throughout the war, the company would be dedicated to helping as many impacted Ukrainians as possible. 

Komarov also made it a goal to repair Ukrainian infrastructure, hoping the Russian invasion would soon end. With the goal of helping Ukrainians and further diversifying the company’s revenue stream, Komarov is faced with the decision whether to expand globally and, if so, what would prove more viable: Moldova or Bulgaria.