The Internet in Ukraine is well developed and steadily growing, mostly uninfluenced by the global financial crisis; in April 2012 rapid growth was forecast for at least two more years. , Ukraine was ranked 9th in the "Top 10 Internet countries in Europe", with then 33.9% Internet penetration and 15.3 million users; growing to 36.8% in 2012. However, about 30 million Ukrainians (85% of the country's population older than 15) were Internet users.
In 2011, online retailing turnover in Ukraine exceeded US$2 bn. For 2012, it was expected to reach US$4 bn. Online payments in the country in 2011 where estimated at US$400 million, 200% growth compared to 2010.
, Ukraine ranked 59th among the world's countries by the fixed broadband Internet access speed, with an average download speed of 59.13 mbit/s, and 80th by the mobile network Internet access speed with 25.63 mbit/s.
Freedom House concluded that the Internet in Ukraine is "Partly Free" in 2019 and 2020.
A Research & Branding Group February 2021 poll found that for the first time Ukrainians preferred the Internet as their primary news source instead of television (51% preferred the Internet and 41% TV).
During the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Internet was partly provided by the Starlink satellite service.
Internet audience
According to GlobalLogic, 85% of Ukraine's population older than 15 have had access to Internet in January 2021.
Data from database: World Development Indicators Last Updated: 10/14/2016 indicates the data below
Internet services
In 2011, the number of subscribers to Internet service providers in Ukraine had increased compared to 2010 by 13.3% to 4,148,658. After the 3rd quarter of 2012, the number of broadband subscribers alone exceeded that figure, grown to 6,700,000. 2011 revenues from Internet service providing in Ukraine reached ₴4.75 billion (US$595 million). It is unclear whether these numbers include mobile Internet services which are provided by all of Ukraine's mobile phone operators.
Access technologies
All existing standards of Internet access are available in Ukraine, with broadband services mostly limited to cities.
Mobile GPRS access is available in vast majority of Ukraine's territory, including all urban areas and airports, most roads and railway lines, many coastal waters. 3G mobile access market is steadily developing. Public Wi-Fi hotspots are widespread throughout cities. There are plans and projects for providing mass wireless broadband access in urban open spaces, on Ukrzaliznytsia long-distance trains and in urban public transport vehicles. According to Ericsson ConsumerLab, 36% of Ukraine's urban population access the Internet via mobile phone or smartphone.
According to the iKS-Consulting, there were 6 700 000 broadband subscribers in Ukraine as of 3Q 2012; 5.97 million of them were households, which amounts to 34% broadband Internet penetration of all country's households. The consultancy estimated broadband providing revenues in the 3rd quarter of 2012 at ₴1.36 billion (US$167 million), which is the growth 13.7% compared to 3Q 2011 results.
Thousands of national, regional and local ISP operate in Ukraine, with as much 14 ISPs competing for every household client in the capital city Kyiv.
Major Internet service providers
According to Expert & Consulting (E&C), the top-10 Ukrainian fixed Broadband Internet service providers had about 3.36 million subscribers as of the 2nd quarter of 2012; as of the 3rd quarter, that figure rose to about 3,46 million subscribers. According to estimations of Expert & Consulting (E&C), there were 7,06 mln. subscribers of fixed Broadband Internet at the end of 1st half of 2013.
Ukrtelecom is the largest Internet access provider (as well as fixed telephone provider) and was the only UMTS 3G provider in Ukraine until 2015, when all three major operators (Vodafone, Kyivstar and Lifecell) have gained the licensing and set up their own 3G networks. In particular, it was serving over 1.4 million DSL/ISDN fixed access clients in June 2012. The second-largest provider Volia is a major player specializing in cable access combined with TV signal. Both MTS and Kyivstar (Ukraine's largest mobile phone operators) also offer fixed broadband access along with their mobile Internet services.