To stay connected is one of the most vital issues while travelling, especially when you travel to the countries outside the EU and EEA zone. In countries like Ukraine, your roaming fees might exceed your monthly income if you don’t care about it or if you don’t have a special plan. So, while Ukraine is not yet part of the European Union or cooperates with other EU countries in terms of European roaming, we recommend you to purchase a Ukrainian SIM card from one of the local mobile operators.
The Ukrainian mobile market is not as diverse as it seems. Overall, there are three large-scale GSM-based mobile providers that offer an extensive mobile network coverage and a stable 3G connection. Those are Kyivstar, Vodafone and Lifecell. In general, each company offers rather cheap tariff plans that include unlimited free calls to other participants of the same network, fixed number of free SMS and data limits. In addition, both prepaid and contract plans are available, so you will surely manage to choose the one that suits you best.
This is by far the biggest mobile operator in Ukraine that occupies almost 50% of the local mobile communication market. All Ukrainian cities and the majority of villages (excluding the territories of the occupied Crimea and Eastern Ukraine) have a stable 3G connection, so you will manage to use online apps and messengers without any problem. Moreover, in the mid January 2018 the company finally announced the introduction of the 4G (LTE-based) mobile network which is planned to gradually cover the whole country within the following months.
By the way, as a Kyivstar customer, you will get a free unlimited access to the company’s exclusive messenger Veon allowing you to stay in touch with your close ones 24/7. Unfortunately, the app is only available in Ukrainian and Russian versions.
Default Rates of Kyivstar
As a rule, Kyivstar charges its subscribers for data usage, sms delivery and all types of calls except for those made within their own network. Basic rates are the following:
50 MB of data – 5 UAH (you can activate up to 5 such packages a day)
Calls in Kyivstar network – free
Calls to other local providers – 0,60 UAH/min (+ 2 UAH for connection)
Calls to landline phones – 1,50 UAH/min (+ 2 UAH for connection)
Foreign calls – start at 2 UAH/min
SMS to local numbers – 0,50 UAH
SMS to foreign numbers – starting at 1 UAH
Tariffs and plans
Pre-paid Kyivstar plans include:
Unlimited Talks+ (45 UAH/month)
Unlimited calls within Kyivstar network
Free data limit – 500 MB
50 min to other networks
Veon app data and message limit – unlimited
Also, an unlimited traffic for 4 online services, incl. Wikipedia
Unlimited Social Nets+ (60 UAH/month)
in Kyivstar network
Free data limit – 3000 МB
100 min to other networks
Veon app usage – free
Unlimited traffic for 6 online services, incl. Wikipedia, Facebook and Twitter
Unlimited Video Talks+ (90 UAH/month)
Unlimited calls within Kyivstar network
Free data limit – 5000 МB
200 min to other networks
200 SMS (via Veon app – free)
Unlimited traffic for 12 online services, including Wikipedia, Youtube, Twitter and Facebook
Maximum Unlimited+ (135 UAH/month)
Unlimited calls within Kyivstar network
Unlimited mobile internet
300 min to other networks
300 SMS (free with Veon)
Extra SIM-card for mobile data – has the same number as the main SIM-card
Contract plans are not of great use to short-stay travellers, so we will only mention that their cost varies from 90 UAH up to 1000 UAH, and they provide customers with an unlimited traffic, 200 to 4000 free SMS, 200 to 4000 min calls to other local networks, but also 50 to 100 min calls to foreign numbers. You can find more information on contract plans here.
Vodafone is the second largest mobile provider in Ukraine that competes with Kyivstar for the championship on the local market. Previously called MTS Ukraine and owned by the Russian corporation, the company switched to the Vodafone brand in 2015 and started providing their own 3G coverage. Vodafone cards are sold everywhere in the country, including the main streets of big cities. For a small charge, a Vodafone agent will help you activate, set up or top up a new SIM-card.
Default Rates
Calls within Vodafone network an to other local providers – 0,50 UAH/min
Excess mobile data fee – 15 UAH for 500 MB
SMS to local numbers – 0,50 UAH
Calls to foreign numbers – 10 UAH/min
SMS to foreign numbers – 3 UAH
An additional fee of 2 UAH is charged daily regardless of usage.
Tariffs and plans for Vodafone
Currently, Vodafone offers four different prepaid plans:
Vodafone Light+ (40 UAH/month)
Unlimited calls within Vodafone network
Free data limit – 500 MB
30 min to other providers
Calls to foreign numbers – 3 UAH/min
50 free SMS a day – 1,50 UAH (above that – 0,50 UAH per SMS)
Vodafone Device
S (45 UAH): 50 MB/day, 50 min/day (within Vodafone network), calls to other local networks – 0,50 UAH/min, 50 SMS/day, calls to foreign numbers – 10 UAH, SMS to foreign numbers – 3 UAH/min.
M (50 UAH): 5 GB (+ 2 GB for the first month of usage)/month, unlimited access to major social networks, calls to all local networks incl. Vodafone numbers – 0,50 UAH/min, SMS to all Ukrainian numbers – 0,50 UAH, calls to foreign numbers – 10 UAH, SMS to foreign numbers – 3 UAH/min.
L(90 UAH): 10 GB/month, unlimited access to major social networks, calls to all local networks incl. Vodafone numbers – 0,50 UAH/min, SMS to all Ukrainian numbers – 0,50 UAH, calls to foreign numbers – 10 UAH, SMS to foreign numbers – 3 UAH/min.
Vodafone Red
XS (50 UAH): Unlimited calls within Vodafone network, 2 GB/month (used for accessing social networks as well), 60 min to other networks, 50 SMS/day for 1,50 UAH (within Ukraine),
S (70 UAH): Unlimited calls within Vodafone network, 4 GB/month, unlimited access to major social networks, 75 min to other networks, 50 SMS/day for 1,50 UAH (within Ukraine),
M (110 UAH): Unlimited calls within Vodafone network, 8 GB/month, unlimited access to major social networks, 250 min to other networks, 70 SMS/day for 1,50 UAH (within Ukraine)
L (180 UAH): Unlimited calls within Vodafone network, 12 GB/month,unlimited access to major social networks, 300 min to other networks, 150 SMS/day for 1,50 UAH (within Ukraine).
In addition, you will be charged 5 UAH for every 100 MB of excess data.
Vodafone Unlimited (75 UAH/month)
Unlimited calls within Vodafone network
Unlimited mobile Internet
100 min to other providers
SMS to all providers, incl. Vodafone – 0,20 UAH
Calls to foreign numbers – 1 UAH/min
SMS to foreign numbers – 0,50 UAH
You might be wondering, what apps are included to the Vodafone’s unlimited data use. Those are the messengers WhatsApp and Viber (only texting is for free) and social networks: Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
For an additional information, visit Vodafone Ukraine’s official website.
Lifecell is the third biggest mobile operator in Ukraine after Kyivstar and Vodafone which is owned by Turkish mobile operator Turkcell. There are almost 200 official Lifecell stores in Ukraine and more than 12 million active network subscribers. Lifecell has a relatively lower 2G/3G coverage, although it is present in all major cities and villages of Ukraine. Their start SIM-card packages only cost 15 UAH and are sold as widely as the other provider’s cards, so there will be no problem finding it anywhere in Ukraine.
Default Rates
Calls within Lifecell network – 5 UAH for 20 minutes for 5 days
Limited access to the mobile Internet
SMS to all Ukrainian networks, incl. Lifecell – 2 UAH for 100 SMS/day
Calls to foreign numbers – starting at 0,80 UAH/min
An additional fee of 3 UAH is charged daily if the prepaid plan is not activated.
Tariffs and Plans
Absolute Freedom (75 UAH/month)
750 min to all networks within Ukraine, incl. Lifecell
2 GB data limit
Unlimited access to popular social networks
Optimal Smartphone (50 UAH/month)
Unlimited calls within Lifecell network
3 GB data limit
80 min to other networks
80 SMS
Unlimited access to popular social networks
3G + freedom (60 UAH/month)
750 min to all networks within Ukraine, incl. Lifecell
2 GB data limit
Unlimited access to popular social networks
For other plans, see Lifecell’s official tariff list.
Lifecell also provides an unusual offer (as part of some of its packages) which allows you to exchange unused free minutes to the mobile data traffic. For instance, you can exchange 200 minutes to 1 GB of data.
There is nothing easier than buying a sim-card in Ukraine, because these cards are sold literally EVERYWHERE. But the most convenient spots can be found at airports, railway stations and official operator service centers. The latter option is even more preferable, as service center staff will additionally consult you on the best suitable plan and help you activate it on your phone in no time.
If you decided to buy a phone card specifically at a local operator store, you can use providers’ websites to find the most suitable location before you make an actual visit:
For Lviv guests, we offer a few mobile provider stores that can be found in the vicinity of the railway station and in the city center itself:
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