The miracle did not happen. Why mobile communication in Ukraine can't handle the challenges of war
From the prompt restoration of the availability of services in the area of hostilities to incredibly generous roaming proposals - to demand or expect something more, I think, is inappropriate. However, miracles did not happen - civil technologies are not always and do not cope with the challenges of wartime. Paradoxically, the biggest problems have shown themselves in the deep rear. The problem # 1 is the mass migration of users in the country.
Its result was essentially a one -time emergence of several million new active users in Western Ukraine, on which the available networks are simply not calculated. Operators need to increase the capacity of the networks as quickly as possible to cope with a sharp increase in load. I do not have data on all operators, and Kyivstar estimates the growth of my subscriber base in the west of the country at 4 million subscribers. But that's not all.
Approximately 5 million users remained in their "domestic" regions, but moved from cities to rural areas, which also caused local imbalances. According to the company, the increase in load ranges from 30 to 50%. I think the competitors have the same situation, and for Vodafone it should be even sharper because of its traditional dominance in the east of the country.
In order to compensate for the sudden appearance of at least ten (my cast) millions of new subscribers, companies need to make their networks as soon as possible. If for Kyivstar it is about about 400 base stations, for the whole large three (referred to as "Kyivstar", Vodafone, Lifecell - Ed. ) The indicator can reach 1 000. "As soon as possible" has never been a simple business in Ukraine, but After the start of the war, the situation began to resemble tragicomedy.
The stumbling block, as well as in peaceful times, became land. Territorial communities were still in no hurry to let this holy land of God's expert operators "from Kiev itself". Someone from mobile communications had a headache, the chickens stopped rushing somewhere, someone was afraid of Covid-19 and 5G. Now new, often unexpected, obstacles have been added to the usual difficulties. Initially, the use of state cadastres was very complicated.
Despite the victorious revolutions of the Ministry of Digital Transformation, there are no dozens of these cadastres, they work so much, very slowly and with restrictions. Problems on the side of the central authorities are harmoniously complemented by the shoals of power on the ground. Representatives of the community can only approve the decision on land emergency at the general meeting (local council).
The reasons why the councils cannot, or do not want to make such decisions, are often anecdotal: because of the departure of the secretary abroad, together with the seal, it is impossible to approve the report of the meeting; it is impossible to find a landlord; It is impossible to gather a quorum due to departure of deputies, etc. I believe that, due to extraordinary circumstances, the authorities must adopt the same extraordinary procedures that provide critical infrastructure.