Located in Eastern Europe, Ukraine is bordered by seven countries including Russia, and the city of Kiev is both its capital and largest city.
And as Jimmy Rock pointed out in his thread, they have arguably the most attractive prime mininster - ever [see pic]
Of its population of approximately 45.7m, 10.3m – or 22.7% - enjoy access to the fixed line internet, making it one of Europe’s lowest ranked countries in terms of internet penetration.
Although credit card and ATM use among Ukrainians is increasingly common, fraud is still an issue. Ukraine generally operates as a cash economy, and money scams are widespread.
To this end, the cash-based processor
www.ukash.com recently announced an agreement with Ukraine’s PrivatBank to offer its fast growing e-cash product to consumers there.
Ukash will be available via numerous PrivatBank channels in the Ukraine including over the counter in 3,500 bank branches and online using the Privat24 internet and mobile banking service.
The vouchers will also be available from nearly 6,800 ATMs and approximately 1,800 self-service kiosks located in convenient public areas, enabling consumers to purchase Ukash outside of banking hours.
Founded in 1992, PrivatBank has operations in Russia, Georgia, Latvia, Portugal and Cyprus, and is the largest commercial bank in the Ukraine with 23% of the country's 46m population employing its services. The Ukraine's extensive expatriate workforce will also be able to benefit from the ability to use Ukash to spend online at both local and international websites.
The alternative payment vouchers will also soon be available from in excess of 55,000 shops in the Ukraine via PrivatBank's network of point of sale card processing terminals, and Smart Voucher is already working alongside PrivatBank and Skype to facilitate the SkypeCredit program in the Ukraine.
Future plans for Ukash, which can also be obtained online in 12 countries with more to come soon, include continuing its physical expansion into other countries in this region - starting with Russia.
Since Ukraine does not yet have its own domestic pay-per-call network, phone billing from there is difficult.
