In January 2005, Astelit became the fifth mobile network provider to enter the Ukrainian market. Only eight months ­later, the company passed the milestone of one million ­subscribers. Today, after only four full years of operation, Astelit has ­succeeded in securing a market share of more than 19% of the now saturated Ukrainian market and has a clientele of 10.7 million customers.

Astelit in the Ukraine relies on rapid expansion of the network and aggressive pricing   

Right from the beginning, Astelit’s strategy in taking on the market was based on the fastest possible expansion of the network in combination with aggressive price positioning. Only one year after the startup of business operations, Astelit’s mobile network provided coverage to 70% of the population. This made it possible to win over between 20% and 30% of the new customers for the company quarter after quarter, raising the market share quickly to 11% by the end of 2006. During the second quarter of 2006, only one and a half years after the startup, Astelit for the first time obtained more new subscribers than the second-largest provider, MTS. This rapid growth in clientele was ­achieved by means of an aggressive pricing policy. This can be clearly seen in an ARPU comparison: whereas Kyivstar earned USD 8.30 and MTS earned USD 8.00 per subscriber per month, this value for Astelit in the middle of 2006 was a mere USD 1.80.

The strategic principle of fast market development with the help of low prices and rapid network expansion was realized at the expense of the network quality. Both the success call establishment rate and the dropped call rate were much worse than those of the other providers. But the rapid customer growth achieved despite this is not solely a consequence of the pricing. Astelit’s marketing is the decisive strategic link which turns this ­balancing act in a positive direction. Right from the beginning, “life :)” was positioned as a young and innovative brand. ­Showing up as a latecomer with the presentation of a young and innovative brand, setting it apart from the ­established providers, proved to be a clever move, and the idea of incorporating an ­emoticon “:)” into the name was highly innovative and successful. It ­immediately makes the brand friendly, young, dynamic, and “Web 2.0” modern. The Web site, which appears as the most modern and best maintained Web site of all of the ­Ukrainian mobile network providers, is in line with this image as well. The idea of the brand presence was equally innovative. The pre-paid sector on the Ukrainian market makes up 96% of the business. So the role of the sellers of pre-paid cards, who can be found on ­every street corner in the Ukraine, is ­correspondingly ­important. ­Astelit provided parasols to these dealers, and the brand “life :)” with its signal red color scheme is now a prominent element of every street scene.