Internet in Ukraine
Mobile GPRS access is available in vast majority of Ukraine's territory, including all urban areas and airports, most roads and railway lines, many coastal waters.
The consultancy estimated broadband providing revenues in the 3rd quarter of 2012 at ₴1.36 billion (US$167 million), which is the growth 13.7% compared to 3Q 2011 results.
[22] The second-largest provider Volia is a major player specializing in cable access combined with TV signal.
[26] According to the Google Analytics, in 2012 the number of daily Twitter visitors from Ukraine reaches 120,000 while the "Yandex.Ukraine" estimated the number of Ukrainian users at 500,000, and GfK Ukraine, a market research company, found that a quarter of Ukrainian Twitter users ignore their accounts completely, while 28 percent check them only occasionally.
[31] On 16 May 2017, President Poroshenko signed a decree requiring providers to block access to VK, as it was claimed they participated in an information war against Ukraine.
[8] According to the 2013 TEMAX index by the GfK, Ukraine's online house appliances and consumer electronics market is the second fastest-growing in Europe (after the Turkish), with estimated 2012 size of ₴5,000,000,000.
There were estimated 5,000–7,000 online shops in operation across the country, with about 1,300 of them working in the house appliances and consumer electronics sector.
[34] E-ticketing is rapidly growing in Ukraine, being recently boosted by the Ukrzaliznytsia national railway operator's implementation of its own online booking system, available in Ukrainian and English.
"[37] While there are no government restrictions on internet access, law enforcement bodies are known to using online monitoring, at times without permission.
However, local media observers have expressed concern over high monetary damages demanded and awarded for alleged libel.
[39] For example: A report from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) found around 300 instances of violent attacks on the media in Ukraine from November 2013 to May 2014.
A crackdown on what authorities describe as “pro-separatist” points of view has triggered dismay among Western human rights monitors.
[41] The Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) broke into the office of a Kyiv-based digital newspaper “Vesti”, physically trapping reporters and ultimately shutting down the website.
"Those who were already inside at the moment of the raid are being kept in the building and are not allowed to use cell phones.” Guzhva said that this is the second time in just six months that the SBU has tried to "intimidate" its editors.
He added that he is unsure of the reason for the raid, but suspects that it might have to do with a story the website published about the SBU chief's daughter.
[32] The move was widely criticised as censorship, and Reporters Without Borders condemned the ban, calling it a "disproportionate measure that seriously undermines the Ukrainian people's right to information and freedom of expression.
[44][45][46] While military and government use of the Starlink has been the most important aspect of opening Ukraine to low-altitude satellite internet services in early 2022, civilians are also heavily using the technology "to keep in touch with the outside world and tell loved ones that they are alive."
[47] To pay for the cost of Starlink in Ukraine, SpaceX donated for an estimate of over $100 million,[48] while an unknown amount was secured by several European countries and the US government.
[49][50] In June 2023, The Pentagon communicated that the Department of Defense signed a contract with SpaceX's Starlink to buy those satellite services for Ukraine.
