Calling himself the Minister of Communications of the DPR Viktor Yatsenko recognized that the capacities stolen from Ukrainian mobile operators is not enough for the normal operation of the Phoenix "republican" network. He told this on the air of one of the separatist TV channels.
Answering the question of the anchorman, whether he is satisfied with the current state of Phoenix, Yatsenko has honestly recognized that he personally is dissatisfied.
"We are certainly dissatisfied. Capacities are not enough, base stations are overloaded, the network requires expansion and investments", - the "minister" said.
As previously reported, the mobile operator of the "DPR" militants, which illegally uses the radio frequency resource of Ukraine, was created on the basis of the equipment stolen from Kyivstar. The authorities had later "modernized" the material base of Phoenix by appropriating the equipment of another Ukrainian operator – Lifecell.
Judging by the words of V.Yatsenko, the stolen property was not enough for normal work. The "minister" expressed confidence that the DPR communication specialists will be able to introduce a large number of new base stations in the next six months. "In principle we have everything now: there is an understanding of how to develop, where to buy the missing spare parts for cellular communication", - he said.
At the same time he recognized that the majority of subscribers who live in the occupied part of the Donetsk oblast prefer to use services of the only one remaining Ukrainian mobile operator MTS-Ukraine (Vodafon). The "minister" stated that 1.7 million people who use cellular communication did not switch over to Phoenix. According to him, the separatist operator serves now a three times smaller number of subscribers – 0.5 million.