The largest Ukrainian operator VOLIA summed up the results of its operation over three years 2014 – 2016, and made public some figures.
The company’s revenue grew by 40% over 3 years, ARPU by 53%, and the average annual increase EBIDTA was 11%. All this is in hryvna. The figures in USD and the company’s profit after consolidating that income and costs for content, equipment, etc. (part in USD) were not disclosed by the company. However, the revenue growth due to ARPU evidences a potential of successful business on the Ukrainian TV market. There were made public the investment amounts as follows: UAH 700 million were allocated in network modernization, UAH 500 million were spent on content, and UAH 200 million were invested in new subscriber equipment.
The company’s CEO George Zhemberi explains that ARPU growth is due to the development of OTT, HD (fivefold increase) and auxilary interactive services (100% growth).
The Marketing Director Victoria Tsomaya adds that all new subscribers are already getting HD equipment, and not the SD one. The VOLIA’s Internet Subscriber Base increased by 20%. The highest growth rates were shown by packages that cost 180 hryvnas and 290 hryvnas. It is interesting that the best urban figures are not in Kyiv, but in such cities as Kryvyi Rih, Zaporizhia, and others.
The question of whether this is due to a lower competition was answered by Mr. Zhemberi evasively.
“Some people believe that the VOLIA is a cable operator, but I have never looked at it from this perspective, but mainly as the leader of digital entertainment and services. Our results prove that it is possible to do business in Ukraine properly”, as Mr. Zhemberi is sure. According to his expectations, the average ARPU would exceed 100 hryvnas in 2017.
The CEO also said that the VOLIA’s reputation indicators improved significantly. Thus, the period of service use increased by 20%, and the number of those who were ready to recommend the company increased by 50%.
The VOLIA’s management esteems that the most promising marketing strategic activity is to cultivate loyalty schemes. In that context, the company presented a bonus scheme, which allows accumulating bonuses and using them to acquire extra services.
