Niel’s investment holding NJJ Capital, in partnership with Ukraine’s largest private equity firm Horizon Capital, announced in September that it would acquire and merge Ukraine’s third-largest mobile operator Lifecell with service provider Datagroup-Volia. The new company — Datagroup-Volia-Lifecell — will be headed by Mykhailo Shelemba, former CEO of Datagroup-Volia and shareholder of the new entity. The merger will create the second-largest fixed-mobile convergent operator, Holger Muent, EBRD's director of telecommunications, media, and technology, told the Kyiv Independent in an interview. Kyivstar is the country’s largest. “Bringing two leading operators in separate sectors together into one is a game changer for the industry,” Muent said, adding that the deal would be significant in peacetime, but is even more so during war.The Kyiv Independent sat down with Muent to discuss what the deal means for Ukraine and its telecoms sector and plans for further investment.