Kyiv, July 17 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The leadership of the communications sector is hindering the conversion of frequency bands in the 2.1 GHz range for 3G mobile communications, the head of the parliamentary committee for transport and communications, Volodymyr Kozak, said at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine on Wednesday.

"Today, around UAH 1 billion of investment has been lost due to this," he said.

Kozak said that the Transport and Communications Ministry has stopped financing the Phone in Each House program with the attraction of CDMA operators, which was approved by the previous government.

"The stoppage of the financing of the program means that over 1,800 settlements have no phones in apartments," he said.

Earlier, Transport and Communications Minister Yosyp Vinsky also said that the program is not fulfilled, pointing out the imperfection of the latter and the necessity to select new relations in the sphere with mobile operators.

As reported, in 2007 Ukraine's cabinet approved a procedure for converting radio frequencies for use with 3G mobile communications.

The starting license price will be UAH 142 million, another UAH 120 million will have to be paid by the tender winner to carry out the conversion. Three licenses are to be issued.

Management of airports and seaports unprofessional, says parliamentary committee head

Kyiv, July 17 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukraine's Transport and Communications Ministry shows non-professionalism in the management of seaports and airports, according to the head of the parliamentary committee for transport and communications.

"Today, most investors stopped investing into the development of airports due to the irrational and non-professional statements of the ministry," he said at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine.

He also said that there are delays in paying wages to employees in Zaporizhia and Simferopol airports due to inefficient management.

Kozak also said that there are problems in the management of seaports.

"Funds are allocated to dubious projects on sea ports, which were not discussed in public, and opinions of local authorities were not taken into account," he said.

Kozak said that the leadership of the port in Odesa flooded land without the agreement of the local authorities.

As reported, in March 2008, the government approved a concept of the state purpose program on the development of airports for the period up to 2020.

According to the plan, airports in Donetsk, Kyiv (Zhuliany), Odesa, Simferopol, Kharkiv, Vinnytsia (Havryshivka), Ivano-Frankivsk, Kirovohrad, Mykolaiv, Luhansk, Poltava, Rivne, Sumy, Ternopil, Uzhgorod, Kherson, Khmelnytsky, Chernivtsi, Cherkasy, Izmail, Mariupol, Kerch, Kryvy Rih, Severodonetsk will be returned to state ownership.

The Transport and Communications Ministry will manage airport terminals, according to the plan.

The plan also foresees the organization of open auctions to select investors for the construction of infrastructure at airports. It is also planned to make a transfer to concession and commissioning, and to sell exclusively at open auctions passenger and cargo terminal complexes, fuel depots, and objects performing non-aviation activity

The majority of airports in Ukraine are now under communal ownership.

Parliamentary committee head says arrival of budget airlines to Ukraine is premature

Kyiv, July 17 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The arrival of low-cost airline Wizz Air (Hungary) to the Ukrainian market of air transportation, which was assisted by the Transport and Communications Ministry, is premature, Volodymyr Kozak, the head of the parliamentary committee on transport and communications issues, considers.
"I think, there are both positive and negative sides here," Kozak, the shadow transport and communications minister in the opposition government, said at a press conference in the Interfax-Ukraine news agency on Wednesday.
Kozak praised the potential for growth in domestic air transportation, but expressed anxiety regarding the exposure of Ukrainian carriers.
"We create competition for our enterprises, [even] when we haven't taken steps to develop them… First, we need to take steps to help our enterprises to work," Kozak said.
As reported, Wizz Air Ukraine, a subsidiary of Hungary's low-cost carrier Wizz Air, on June 27 received the right to make flights and on July 11 started performing regular flights inside Ukraine.
The enterprises performs four flights a week on the Kyiv-Lviv route, ten flights a week on each of the Kyiv-Simferopol and Lviv-Simferopol routes, and four flights a week on the Kyiv-Odesa route.
Wizz Air Ukraine is planning in 2009 to transport over 1 million passengers and hire about 200 employees in Ukraine.