Two more operators are deploying CDMA and TDMA wireless fixed networks with a potential to go into mobile. At the start of 1999, the State Committee for Communications of Ukraine sharply increased the cost of operational licenses for mobile wireless services. This increase was prohibitively high for GSM900 and DCS1800 services, while the increase for other standards was less significant. With exorbitant frequency license fees established for GSM900 and DCS1800 spectrum use, a limited number of customers and a large number of competing operators, it should be expected that the development of mobile wireless services in Ukraine will slow down and that some of the operators will leave the market. The crucial advantage of satellites is their wide geographical coverage without the need for expensive terrestrial networks.
Satellites have many advantages for providing rural and remote areas with advanced communications.
Ukraine has never been active in developing commercial applications for its large and developed space industry. This industry primarily focused on military and scientific research projects. Within the framework of the Globalstar project, a satellite gateway station that will service Ukrainian customers, is under construction near Kiev. Regular Iridium's satellite communications services are also available in Ukraine. To focus on the development of space projects, the Government of Ukraine created the National Space Agency of Ukraine in 1993.