Kyivstar raises full-year outlook as digital revenue surges 83%

Kyivstar Group (Nasdaq: KYIV) has reported second-quarter 2026 revenue of USD 339 million, up 19.3% year-on-year, and raised its full-year outlook for the second time this year. The Kyiv-based operator now guides for USD revenue growth of 14–16%, up from a prior range of 11–14%, and EBITDA growth of 9–12%, up from 7–10%. The upgrade reflects what the company describes as broad-based profitable growth across both its telecoms core and an expanding portfolio of digital services.

EBITDA for the quarter reached USD 188 million at a 55.4% margin, while equity free cash flow grew 32.2% year-on-year to USD 104 million. Net profit totalled USD 77 million, with earnings per share of USD 0.33; both figures absorbed a non-cash charge of USD 21.2 million from a fair-value adjustment on outstanding warrants. Cash and deposits stood at USD 364 million at the end of June, which the company says supports continued network investment and selective acquisitions.

Digital platform drives structural shift

The fastest-moving segment is digital, where revenue grew 83.0% year-on-year to USD 73.7 million, now representing 21.7% of total revenue. That share is more than seven percentage points higher than a year ago, a shift that Kyivstar frames as a deliberate diversification away from pure connectivity economics.

Ride-hailing platform Uklon contributed USD 32.8 million in revenue, up 50.8% year-on-year, on 43 million rides and 1.4 million deliveries, generating USD 12.5 million in EBITDA. Digital TV service Kyivstar TV grew revenue more than fivefold year-on-year to USD 13.9 million, with 3.6 million customers. E-health platform Helsi reported more than 109,000 premium subscribers, nearly double the figure at end-2025. Tabletki, a pharmacy marketplace consolidated from February 2026, processed GMV of USD 376 million across 44.9 million orders in its first reported quarter.

Chief executive Oleksandr Komarov said: "Customers who adopt more of our services generate more revenue, stay with us longer, and strengthen our cash generation."

Telecommunications and infrastructure revenue grew 8.8% year-on-year to USD 265 million, lifted by a 11.2% rise in mobile ARPU to USD 3.9 and a 23.6% increase in multiplay customers to 8.1 million. Multiplay revenue accounted for 41.1% of total revenue at USD 139 million.

AI and energy resilience investments

Beyond the headline numbers, two strategic developments signal longer-term ambitions. First, Kyivstar is advancing Syaivo, a national large language model with four billion parameters, which entered beta and reportedly topped a Ukrainian model benchmarking leaderboard among smaller models. The Group also signed a memorandum of understanding with Ukraine's Ministry of Economy to explore an AI-ready data centre, suggesting it is positioning itself as a sovereign AI infrastructure player rather than simply a connectivity provider.

Second, the company acquired six solar plants in the Lviv region totalling 105 MW for USD 80.8 million, expanding its renewable energy portfolio nearly ninefold and covering approximately 30% of anticipated energy needs. Operating continuous network services during an active conflict requires a level of energy independence that most operators never need to contemplate, and the renewable build-out is a direct response to grid fragility caused by infrastructure attacks.

Kyivstar also reported that Starlink Direct-to-Cell now serves more than six million of its customers, extending coverage beyond messaging to data applications where no terrestrial signal exists.

The broader context matters for investors. Kyivstar listed on Nasdaq in 2024 as a subsidiary of VEON, and operates in an economy that the International Monetary Fund and World Bank continue to support with significant aid packages tied to reconstruction targets. The operator's trajectory depends heavily on the trajectory of the war itself; the guidance upgrade implies management sees near-term stability sufficient to justify a more optimistic revenue range. A separate MoU with Ukraine's securities regulator to explore domestic investor access to the Nasdaq-listed shares suggests the company is also working to broaden its shareholder base.