March 13 - Digital services operator Veon on

Friday reported core profit that was up around 19% for its full

year, driven by higher demand for digital services as it looks

to expand its Starlink partnership to Bangladesh next.

Its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation,

amortization (EBITDA) came in at $2 billion. Veon said its

digital services revenues grew 62.5% in a year, now making up

17.3% of the group's income.

Chief Executive Kaan Terzioglu told Reuters that Ukraine had

taught the company that terrestrial networks have inherent

limits, from landmines preventing engineer access, to energy

outages disabling base stations, and that satellite integration

was the answer.

Bangladesh is next in line for the technology, he revealed,

with Uzbekistan and Pakistan to follow.

Terzioglu said Veon was now "the largest partner when it

comes to the number of customers utilizing direct-to-cell

technology of Starlink," with almost 5 million users in Ukraine

over four months and 7 million messages sent over the network.

In Pakistan, Veon's Jazz unit secured 190 MHz in this week's

spectrum auction, the largest single allocation, paving the way

for 5G deployment.

Terzioglu praised Pakistan's decision to triple available

spectrum while reducing costs, calling it "a best practice the

world needs to hear."

He said he was monitoring a brewing conflict between

Pakistan and Afghanistan but added that experience from Ukraine

and the COVID-19 pandemic had shown "when things get difficult,

our services become more essential."

Total digital monthly active users reached 135.5 million, up

11.4% year-on-year.

On expansion, Terzioglu said he was "continuously

monitoring" markets above 100 million people that lack adequate

banking infrastructure, describing them as natural targets given

Veon's experience in delivering digital services through its

telecom networks.

For 2026, Veon guided for revenue growth of 9%-12% and

EBITDA growth of 7%-10%.