An employee of Swiss telecom company Swisscom AG displays a HTC One XL smartphone for use with the new ultra-fast mobile broadband 4G network, during a news conference in Zurich November 28, 2012. (REUTERS PHOTO)

KIEV, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- Ukrainian telecom providers will launch 4G mobile service starting from March or early April this year, local media reported on Wednesday.

Three Ukrainian largest mobile operators have won the licenses to provide the 4G services during the auction in Kiev, said Ukraine's state-run Ukrinform news agency.

Kyivstar, Vodafone-Ukraine and Lifecell will together pay about 89 million U.S. dollars to the state budget for the right to provide the services.

According to the online tech journal AIN.ua, at the first stage, the service will be launched in five Ukrainian largest cities, namely Kiev, Kharkiv, Lviv, Odessa and Dnipro.

Within four years, all cities in the East European country with the population of over 10,000 people are set to gain the access to the 4G service.