Kyivstar Extends Backbone Expansion Plans.

The second largest mobile operator Kyivstar, announced that it will construct a 10,000 km optical backbone by the end of 2005. Earlier the company announced that it would construct 5,000 km backbone. Concorde Capital: The expansion of Kyivstar?s backbone will cause a drop in Ukrtelecom?s (UTEL: HOLD) telecommunication traffic, as currently most of the calls on Kyivstar?s network are serviced by Ukrtelecom. The new network will increase Kyivstar?s profitability and hurt Ukrtelecom?s revenue.