History of the Internet in Ukraine and Kharkiv

How the Internet appeared and developed in Ukraine

The need to create a unified system of computers in the former USSR was discussed as early as in the 80s. Its own history of the Ukrainian segment of the Internet dates back to December 19, 1990, when one of the founders of the Intersectoral Scientific Centre for Programming Technology "Technosoft" Yuri Yanovskyi was the first from the territory of Ukraine to connect to the worldwide network.

In the spring of 1991, the Kiev-based company "Technosoft" officially received the status of Internet provider. And by the end of 1991, residents of many other cities of Ukraine got access to the Internet.

In autumn 1991, negotiations with the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) on the allocation of its own domain for Ukraine began. And in December 1992 Ukraine finally received its own domain *.ua. Until that time, the only domain of the USSR was *.su, which later became rf.

In 1992, the first domestic providers started to appear and actively develop on the Ukrainian market, including Infocom, Tenet, Relcom-Ukraine, Lucky Net, Communication Systems and others. Unlike the USA, where the Internet industry was financed by the state until the mid-90s, in Ukraine Internet deployment took place without state support, which allowed telecom companies to conduct healthy competition. Prior to that, most ISPs operated without a licence, and the authorities had no way to influence this.

In 1994, there were already several dozens of Internet providers in Ukraine, but the scale of Internet penetration was still insignificant. This situation was observed until 1999, when access to the Internet for 10 thousand subscribers in Kiev provided about 50 providers.

In 1994-1996 the first local networks among home users appeared. They united several computers within an apartment block and were used mainly for games and file sharing. A decade later, the most active of them will turn into large Internet providers that will provide access for hundreds, thousands and tens of thousands of subscribers at cosmic speeds for the 90s — tens of megabits per second.

In general, the Ukrainian Internet in the first half of the 90s was used mainly for reading news, chatting and emailing. And already in 1996-1997 the first Ukrainian websites began to appear.

In 1996 the first international fibre-optic communication line (FOCL) was built, which passed through Palermo (Italy), Istanbul (Turkey), Odessa (Ukraine) and had a total length of 3500 km. At the same time, a 975-km long Kiev-Odessa FOCL was opened with branches to Kirovograd, Mykolaiv and Cherkassy.

As for the speed of the Ukrainian Internet, at first it was only 2.5 Kbps. As of 2017, the average Internet speed has increased to 50 Mbps.

In the early 2000s, there were already several hundred Internet providers in Kiev. The real Internet boom in Ukraine began in 2007, when 20% of Ukrainians used the network. In 2012, the number of users was already 50%.

Evolution of Internet delivery methods

At different stages of the Internet formation, its delivery was carried out in different ways:

• Stage 1. Dial-up — a switched line of communication established only for the time of connection of the transmitter device and the receiver device. The speed of data transmission by this method was very slow.
• Stage 2. Dedicated line, which provided connection to the Internet using a separate communication channel. Fibre optic or electrical cable was used for this.
• Stage 3. ADSL — a technology that allowed turning twisted pair telephone wires into a high-speed data transmission path and simultaneously transmitting multiple signals over a single line.
• Stage 4. DOCSIS — a standard for data transmission by TV cable. The first version of DOCSIS became available for Ukrainian users in 2002, and in spring 2010, for the first time in the CIS, a network based on DOCSIS 3.0 was built.

Optics implementation

In 2008, Ukrainian telecom operators started using optical fibre to provide users with broadband Internet access. The peculiarity of this material is that inside it the signal is transmitted with the help of light rays (photons), which move very quickly along the cable, which ensures fast data transmission and insignificant information loss. And due to its high bandwidth capacity, optical cable allows you to conveniently connect the Internet, telephone and cable TV on one connection.

In general, there are different types of optics:

• FTTN (Fibre to the Node) — fibre to the network node.
• FTTC (Fibre to the Curb) — fibre to a neighbourhood, block or group of houses.
• FTTB (Fibre to the Building) — fibre to the building.
• FTTH (Fibre to the Home) — fibre to a dwelling (flat or private house).

FTTB and FTTH technologies are the most popular in Ukraine. In particular, FTTH has prospects of development in places with a high density of subscribers. But FTTN, which appeared in Ukraine one of the first together with FTTC, is now mostly used as a relatively inexpensive and quick to implement solution in places with existing extensive "copper-core" infrastructure, where it is unprofitable to lay optical fibre.

The future of Internet access

With the increasing "weight" of content and growing requirements for data transmission speed in Ukraine there is a demand for high-speed Internet, which providers are trying to satisfy. And GPON (Gigabit Passive Optical Network) technology, which is relatively new to us, helps to solve this issue.

GPON technology allows for speeds of up to 1 Gbps. In addition, fibre optics is independent of power supply and has high signal stability compared to copper cable, as well as makes it possible to connect several devices from one router. Taking into account these advantages, one of the priority areas of Maxnet's work at present is modernisation of its own network using GPON technology.

How Kharkiv got access to the network

Kharkiv was one of the first cities in Ukraine to get access to the Internet. It happened after Kiev in 1991. And on the 12th of November 1998 in Kharkiv there was an official opening of the first Ukrainian search system META.

There was a "dial-up" communication that was used before the advent of Wi-Fi technology in Kharkiv. It was provided with the help of a modem, which was mounted to the computer, as well as a special voucher with a unique login and password. The communication channel was the telephone line, and the specific sound of the modem notified about the establishment of contact.

In the late 2000s, the "callback" service began to gain popularity. The principle of its operation consisted in the fact that after the connection was established, the modem pool used an AT command to break the Internet connection and call back the modem, which was in the mode of waiting for the connection to be established by the Internet provider. Internet users of those times probably remember the access cards offered by some Kharkiv ISPs. Despite the spread of leased lines and broadband Internet access, the "call back" service remained in demand until about 2011.

And it was also interesting to hear the stories of the employees of the Maxnet company about the peculiarities of the implementation of Internet networks in the Kharkiv region. Thus, Dmytro Kapusto, a quality specialist of Maxnet, recalls how the Internet appeared in Saltivsky residential area, which is the largest in Ukraine:

"We got our first computers around 2004-2005. And it was then that the need arose to unite them into a single network, because it was inconvenient to bring discs with recorded films to each other. Then one of our friends read about the existence of such a concept as "local network". And we were so interested in it that we bought a twisted pair cable and used it to unite two computers. Later we found out how to unite eight computers with the help of unmanaged switches, and we also tried to do it by installing a switch in the flat of one of our neighbours on the top floor.

In this way we started to network computers from different entrances of our multi-storey building. But the limited cable length didn’t allow to unite computers of all residents from the 1st to the 7th entrance. So we had an idea to install unmanaged switches in the attic of the house to run the cable from them further. But powering the switches required power supply, which wasn’t available in the attic. So we needed to solve this problem. And we did it by using POE, which was a new technology at that time for transmitting electricity and data using twisted pair.

And when we had about 10-11 such interconnected subscribers in the house, one of us came up with the idea to unite everything into an Internet network. Gradually, the network began to cover neighbouring houses, and later grew into several neighbourhoods. Many modern Kharkiv providers appeared and developed in this way, and Maxnet is among them.”

Vladimir Lapa, a specialist in uninterruptible power supply of server sites Maxnet, recalls the following about the period of the Internet birth in Kharkiv:

"My professional career in the telecoms industry began in the mid-2000s. The work was varied: we connected new subscribers and built up new coverage in parallel. Sometimes, in order to connect one subscriber at his own request, we could immediately build up the entire building where he lived. Although not all residents of apartment buildings met the brigades of masters with joy, because at that time Kharkiv citizens weren’t yet massively interested in getting access to the Internet".

In 2007 on the basis of technology "CDMA-450 REV A" wireless Internet networks were put into operation in Kharkiv. As a result, the data transfer speed was 1.8 Mbps.

Since 2013, the residents of the private sector of the Kharkiv region have had the opportunity to connect to the Internet using Wi-Fi 5 technology. And after a few years, Internet connection on the basis of GPON, as well as gigabit Internet became available for private subscribers.

Modern Internet in Kharkiv

Taking into account the current situation in the city, in the spring of 2022 in Kharkiv a high-speed Internet connection was established with the help of the satellite system "Starlink" from the company "SpaceX". Thanks to this, the quality of the Internet connection has significantly improved, allowing users (civilian and military) to connect to the network anywhere, even in the absence of power supply.

Currently, the coverage of networks of Kharkiv providers is actively expanding with the help of modern GPON technology, on the basis of which connects the Internet and Maxnet. This allows residents of living and office premises at new addresses to get the opportunity to connect fibre optics and get access to the services of high-speed Internet, digital television and telephony.