Kyivstar, a Ukrainian mobile service provider, was forced to suspend services in Crimea after a group of gunmen entered the company’s office in Simferopol. Kyivstar announced this on Facebook:
“They asked Kyivstar employees to remain on the premises, and, as our staff members report, started installing their hardware on the company’s telecommunication equipment. Due to this, Kyivstar, acting in the interests of our customers’ information safety, employees’ physical safety and the network’s integrity, is forced to suspend mobile services in Crimea, thus ensuring no illegal activity could affect the network and it safety” – the message reads.
The cellular carrier’s management is awaiting instruction of further actions from the Ukrainian National Regulatory Commission on Communications and Informatization.
Kyivstar is a part of the international holding VimpellCom Ltd., which also owns the Russian brand “Beeline”.
Earliter MTS Ukraine also suspended operations in Crimea due to technical difficulties, but recommenced work on August 7 upon obtaining a permission to use technical roaming within the networks of a Russian mobile operator K-telecom.
