As the beeline used to be called. Beeline: high technology and the spirit of youth

VimpelCom is a holding that has become an innovator in the field of cellular communications in the country. This is the first Russian company that was listed on the New York Stock Exchange, which later became part of VEON, one of the world leaders in mobile telecommunications.

Basic information about Vympel-Communications

History of VimpelCom

Company development stages:

• 1992 - Start of functioning of the experimental network of the AMPS standard. Year of foundation of the company and registration of JSC VimpelCom.
• 1994 - the official sale of the company's product under the Beeline brand begins (2000 subscribers as of July 28)
• 1996 - registration of the Company in the register of the New York Stock Exchange (50,000 subscribers at the end of the year)

• 1997 - Obtaining a license for GSM. Appearance of the first roaming contracts.
• 1998 - contract with Telenor - the Norwegian company buys out 25% + 1 share of Vympel-Communications. Development of strategic partnership.
• 2001 - Alfa Group becomes a shareholder of the company. The Beeline network has 2 million users as of December (including regions).
• 2002 - VimpelCom, together with Ericsson, is the first in the country to launch an MMS (picture messaging) service. Over 5 million subscribers.
• 2004 - 66 Beeline service regions. Vympel-Communications is the leader in coverage of the country's territory.

Launch of the EDGE platform (first commercial release).

• 2005 - formation of a new accounting active subscribers to monitor the user base. Provision of a Mobile Mail service that provides users with access to corporate e-mail through the use of a mobile phone.
• 2006 - entry into foreign markets and expansion of influence in the countries of the Near Abroad - Georgia, Armenia, Ukraine, etc. Introduction of an additional tariff for labor migrants in order to provide users with communications with the CIS countries.

In 2006, a unique tariff plan was launched for people with hearing disabilities (Communication).

• 2007 - opening of the first flagship center in Moscow. Entering the Georgian market under the Beeline brand, opening sales offices.
• 2008 - merger with Golden Telecom - creation of a single operator on the territory of the Russian Federation and the CIS countries.
• 2009 - launch of the first 3G facilities in Moscow.
• 2010 - a key event in the history of the company - the merger with Kyivstar - the largest mobile operator in Ukraine. The combined company is named VimpelCom LTD. Holding registration - in Bermuda, head office - the Netherlands.

Distribution of the authorized capital of the combined company: 38.46% - Altimo (Alfa Group); 38.84% - Telenor; 22.7% - in free circulation (listing on the New York Stock Exchange).

According to Interfax, VimpelCom LTD is a holding company present in 13 countries of the world, the number of users is 207 million subscribers (according to the results of 2016). The main product is voice communication, provision of data transmission services, broadband Internet, digital and data services.

In March 2017, a rebranding was made, VimpelCom Ltd was renamed to VEON (this did not affect the Russian division of VimpelCom)

• 2012 - having bought in addition 0.1% of the shares, the Vympel-Communications Company becomes the owner of a 50% stake in the Euroset network (the remaining 50% belongs to Megafon).

Receiving an award in the premium for additional services of multiservice operators in the field of home digital television.

• 2017 - termination of cooperation with Megafon within the Euroset. Megafon buys out 50% of VimpelCom's existing shares in exchange for 2,100 Euroset stores (Euroset retains the status of an autonomous operating company).

VimpelCom in numbers

• Market share - about 23% of the cellular services market (Big Four Russian operators).
• 57 million subscribers in the Russian Federation.
• 5 years with the possibility of extension - the term of the agreement concluded by VimpelCom with Huawei and Nokia. The main component of the agreement is the transfer of Vympel-Communications networks to outsourcing. The holding's partners will manage the network, optimize processes, and maintain equipment. The transition to the new model will be carried out during 2017, depending on the region.

Note. Beeline is the only mobile operator operating on the Commander Islands in the Bering Sea.

Company's main product

The main product presented by Vympel-Communications is mobile telecommunications under the Beeline brand:

• mobile communications for individuals and corporate clients;
• Mobile Internet;
• home internet and TV;
• sale of technology: sale of phones, laptops, etc.

In July 2017, a new communication platform was launched in Russia VEON platforms- a new messenger with the ability to be used by customers regardless of the mobile data operator (for Beeline users - free of charge).

Since 2010, VimpelCom has also been offering franchises to develop its own mobile phone stores.

Key performance indicators of PJSC Vympel-Communications

The company's reporting is provided in open access in compliance with the current legislation of the Russian Federation.

Note. PJSC accounting is carried out in a specialized ERP system ORACLE E-Business Suite. Registers are formed automatically, information is stored in electronic form (data can be printed out at the request of interested persons and regulatory authorities).

Return on sales = Net profit / revenue = 19.8 billion / 272.4 billion = 0.07 (7%)

As a result of the mergers, PJSC VimpelCom is now a subsidiary of VEON. The main co-owners are LetterOne (founders are Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, Alexey Kuzmichev (47.9%) and Telenor (19.7%).

Exchange

Part of the shares of VEON Corporation are listed on the Nasdag Stock Exchange.

VEON stock price $4.09 (as of 07/31/2017) - a fall of 0.04 (0.97%)

Source - Nasdaq

Personnel policy

To ensure continuous professional development of VimpelCom employees, the Corporate University operates, where trainings are held, online courses and other methods of staff training.

In addition, VimpelCom is implementing a program to attract students to specialized internships and training.

Social guarantees: voluntary medical insurance, company mobile communications, discounts for services of third-party operators, social benefits.

Since 2011, the Gift of Hope Charitable Foundation has been operating. The fund is intended to provide assistance to the holding's personnel who find themselves in difficult life situations (payments for medical treatment, etc.). Contributions to the Fund are voluntary.

Charity

VimpelCom provides support to many charitable foundations through the provision of mobile communications and the Internet. In addition, to increase the flow of donations, Beeline is developing special mobile services (for more than 80 charitable foundations, including Podari Zhizn, Rusfond and Children's Hearts, Vera).

In 2013, a new service was launched for users - M-charity, which allows subscribers to make monthly donations from their mobile account directly to the Funds.

The main areas of social investment: adaptation of people with hearing disabilities, support for the Liza Alert group, which is engaged in the search for missing people, volunteer activities.

Brand: Beeline

Tagline: Live on the bright side

Industry: telecommunications

Owner company: VimpelCom

Year of foundation: 1993

Headquarters: Moscow

Performance indicators

VimpelCom indicators:

turnover(revenue), USD million: 22.546 (2013), 19,6 (2014)

EBITDA, USD million: 8.26 (2013), 7,97 (2014)

Operating profit(operating income), USD million: (346) (2013), 2,586 (2014)

Net income (loss(profit/loss), USD mln: (4.088) (2013), (903) (2014)

Total Capital(total equity), million USD: 9.078 (2013), 3,976 (2014)

Asset value(total assets), million USD: 49.747 (2013), 41,042 (2014)

history of the company

Beeline (also: Beeline, until 2005 Bee Line GSM) is a trademark of VimpelCom, under which its subsidiaries provide telecommunications services (primarily mobile services) in Russia.

The history of the company began in 1991 with the organization of the group technical experts under the leadership of Dmitry Zimin inside the RTI named after A. L. Mints. The American businessman Augie K. Fabela II, the owner of the Plexsys family firm, acted as a partner in the first stage of creating a cellular communication network.

In June 1992, a switch and a base station were installed on the building of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Moscow, and the first experimental network of the AMPS standard in Russia with a capacity of 200 subscribers began to work. On July 12, 1992, the first call is made on the network.

On July 16, 1992, at the first meeting of shareholders of VimpelCom JSC, Dmitry Zimin, the founder of the company, was approved for the position of General Designer.

On January 11, 1993, VimpelCom received a license to create and operate an AMPS cellular network in Moscow. By the fall of 1993, the number of base stations in the network had increased to five, and the number of subscribers to 400 people.

VimpelCom OJSC is part of the VimpelCom Ltd group of companies, which is one of the world's largest integrated telecom operators, which includes telecom companies that provide voice and data communication services based on a wide range of wireless and fixed line, as well as broadband Internet access in Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Armenia, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Cambodia, Laos, Algeria, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Burundi, Zimbabwe, Central African Republic, Italy and Canada. VimpelCom provides services around the world in an area with a total population of about 782 million people. Companies of the VimpelCom Ltd. group provide services under the brands Beeline, Kyivstar, djuice, Wind, Infostrada, Mobilink, Leo, Banglalink, Telecel and Djezzy. As of March 31, 2012, the total number of the Company's subscribers was 209 million.

OJSC VimpelCom offers integrated services of mobile and fixed telephony, international and long-distance communications, data transmission, telematic communication services, Internet access based on wireless and wired solutions, including fiber optic access technologies, WiFi and third generation networks. VimpelCom's clients and partners include individuals, small, medium and large enterprises, transnational corporations, telecom operators.

Services are provided under the Beeline trademark. This is one of the most famous brands in Russia and the CIS countries. Since 2005, Beeline has been one of the leaders in the ranking of the most expensive Russian brands according to the authoritative international organization Interbrand Group. The well-known research agency Millward Brown Optimor included Beeline in the prestigious list of the 100 most valuable brands in the world with a value of $8.16 billion. Also, the Beeline brand was recognized as one of the 12 most expensive global brands in the telecommunications market in the Brandz rating.

OJSC VimpelCom was the first Russian company listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), the shares were listed under the VIP symbol. After the formation in April 2010 of the holding company VimpelCom Ltd., which consolidated the stakes in OJSC VimpelCom and Kyivstar, the VIP symbol was re-registered to VimpelCom Ltd.

Vympel-Communications (VympelCom) is a Russian telecommunications company that has been part of the VimpelCom international group since 2009. Provides services of cellular (GSM and UMTS) and fixed communications, wired (FTTB) and wireless (Wi-Fi) high-speed Internet access, IP-TV to individuals and legal entities under the Beeline trademark. The headquarters is in Moscow.

The company operates in all regions of Russia, 6 CIS countries (Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Armenia), Georgia, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. The licenses of the VimpelCom group of companies cover territories with a total population of about 340 million people. According to J'son & Partners, VimpelCom is the world leader in terms of the number of roaming partners and the number of roaming countries.

Being the leader of the Moscow cellular market (and therefore the largest operator in Russia), in 1996 VimpelCom became the first Russian company listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the international name VimpelCom and the symbol "VIP" (in 2010 it was re-registered as VimpelCom Ltd .). Until April 2010, it was the second (after MTS) mobile operator in Russia in terms of the number of subscribers. During 2010, VimpelCom lost 2nd position in terms of the number of subscribers and revenue from mobile business MegaFon. Since 2008, VimpelCom has controlled 49.9% of the Russian cell retail market leader, Euroset.

On October 5, 2009, it was announced that Altimo and Telenor had signed an agreement to merge VimpelCom and Kyivstar into new company— VimpelCom Ltd. Alfa Group will receive 43.9% of the voting shares in it, Telenor will receive 35.42%, and another 20.69% will be traded on the NYSE.

The managing holding, VimpelCom Ltd., registered in Bermuda, controls VimpelCom and Kyivstar. The main owners of VimpelCom Ltd. - Altimo company (owned by Alfa Group, 31%), entrepreneur Nagib Sawiris (30.6%), Norwegian telecommunications company Telenor (25%).

Approximately 24.3% of the common shares were listed as ADRs on the New York Stock Exchange. Market capitalization - $ 16.4 billion (September 1, 2009). In the spring of 2010, the exchange circulation of the company's shares was terminated, instead of them, under the same stock ticker, trading in shares of the parent company VimpelCom Ltd began. amounted to $18.2 billion.

In the spring of 2010, VimpelCom lost the title of Russia's second mobile operator to MegaFon due to the latter's reduction in the cost of services rendered and the active deployment of a network of mono-brand stores. At the same time, VimpelCom suspended the construction of a communication network in Russia: according to the results of 2010, VimpelCom, which previously held leading positions, had 9,000 3G base stations, while MegaFon had 20,000. Alexander Izosimov commented on these data as follows: “If you do not invest in

network, you don’t invest enough in retail and at the same time try to maintain premium prices in the market, sooner or later this model stops working.” At the beginning of 2011, VimpelCom instructed Euroset to open at least 1,000 Beeline mono-brand stores by the end of the year.

Brand history

On June 1-2, 1994, the act of acceptance of the system into operation of the new network for 10,000 subscribers was signed. The official start of commercial activities under the brand name "Beeline".

On April 4, 2005, a radical rebranding of the company was carried out. The development of the new brand was carried out by the British agency Wolff Olins, who did the design for The Beatles album covers. It is believed that the brand change led to an increase in Vimpelcom's revenues.

In 2006, after the contract with Vimpelcom ended and was not renewed by the operator, the same agency rebranded the telecommunications companies of AFK Sistema, including VimpelCom's main competitor, the mobile operator MTS.

Until 2011, Beeline was the most expensive brand in Russia according to Interbrand.

Beeline is the only operator whose cellular communication operates on the Commander Islands, an archipelago located in the Bering Sea. There is only one settlement on the archipelago - the village of Nikolskoye, in which the first and only base station is installed.

2015

Total service revenue from the provision of services in 2015 decreased by 4% year-on-year to RUB 67.8 billion as a result of a decrease in service revenue in the fixed segment. At the same time, service revenue mobile segment increased slightly year-on-year, reaching RUB 56.5 billion due to a 16% increase in revenue from mobile data transmission to RUB 12.3 billion compared to the same period last year, and an increase in interconnect revenue. Growth in revenue from mobile data transmission is due to the active promotion of package offers and traffic growth. However, this growth is partially offset by lower voice and roaming revenues due to lower average cost minutes of conversation due to the transition of existing customers of the Company to current tariff plans.

Service revenue in the fixed segment decreased by 21% yoy to RUB 11.3 billion as a result of a reduction in low-margin traffic, as well as a decrease in revenue in the B2B segment due to slower macroeconomic growth.

Communication infrastructure

Information Technology

data centers

Experience in IT infrastructure cost optimization

Beeline cost optimization approaches

• Criteria for outsourcing: finances and impact on revenue
• Correctly calculate the budget and determine the optimization goals (desired savings and risk ratio)
• Outsourcing of work outside the production chain and without a direct impact on revenue and profit.

• Monitoring and analysis of resource usage
• Estimating the cost of resources in terms of CAPEX / OPEX

User Equipment

• Development of remote work and BYOD
• Data protection

Story

2017

More than half of VimpelCom employees began to work remotely

After a quarrel with the landlord, Beeline moves to the Bolshevik factory

The telecommunications operator VimpelCom (part of the Veon group, trademark Beeline) has agreed with the investment company O1 Properties to lease office space in the Bolshevik cultural and business complex owned by the group. As stated in the joint statement of the parties, the lease agreement for 17 thousand square meters. m of space will be concluded for seven years. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The Bolshevik complex is located in Moscow on Leningradsky Prospekt. The complex began its history at the end of the 19th century, when the A.Siu and Co. confectionery factory was built on these squares. In Soviet times, the factory was nationalized and renamed Bolshevik.

Preparing for the launch of 5G

VimpelCom to sell 13,000 towers to Russian Towers

Operator Vimpelcom agreed with the infrastructure company " Russian towers"on the sale of 13,000 telecom towers to it in the amount of $ 700 million. The transaction will be completed in the second quarter of 2017.

The tender for the sale of the asset was announced at the end of 2015. The bidding process dragged on because, according to the publication, VimpelCom planned to receive $1bn for the towers, but the bids received amounted to about half of this amount, and the value of the asset was revised. All towers of the company will be allocated to the provider's subsidiary - National Tower Company JSC. VympelCom intends to maximize its financial gain by selling towers and find new reliable partners.

2016: Tele2 and Vimpelcom will unite networks in 27 regions

The partnership between Vimpelcom and Tele2 does not apply to Moscow and the region, in addition, it does not include 450 MHz frequencies belonging to Tele2 - until it builds a commercial network on them.

The purpose of the agreement is to reduce the operating and capital costs of both companies: from now on, they will share the costs of maintaining and upgrading the network. How significant the savings can be is not specified in the agreement.

2015: The plan of reduction of thousands of employees

Telecommunications operator Vimpelcom (trademark Beeline) has announced a large-scale staff reduction plan. About this in an interview with the TV channel " Russia-24" said the CEO of the operator Slobodin Mikhail.

The exact number of people who will fall under the cuts, Slobodin did not name. But, according to him, there will be "tens of percent." In total, VimpelCom employs 27,000 employees, which means that several thousand people will be left without work.

Slobodin emphasized that the reductions would not affect people who interact directly with customers: in particular, employees of call centers and a mono-brand network.

Reductions will take place in the management sphere: people who, to one degree or another, participate in decision-making, including those at the level of branches and regional offices, will be fired. The number of regional offices will also be reduced.

At the same time, VimpelCom announced that it was merging a number of its macroregions: the Volga and Urals macroregions would be merged into the Volga-Urals region (it will have 18 regional branches), and the Siberian and Far East regions into the Vostok macroregion (it will unite 15 regions).

2013: Beeline creates a special department for digital communications with clients

In VimpelCom the special division on digital communications with clients is created, the executive vice president of the company for development of the mass market said in November, 2013 Alexander Popovsky.

He explained to TAdviser that the new division will be engaged in everything that is connected with interaction with clients online, including the self-service system (personal accounts of clients) and online store. In addition, all contacts with customers through SMS and USSD commands.

Alexander Popovsky explains the need to create such a division by the fact that now digital interaction with clients in the company is fragmented, the tasks associated with it are distributed among several departments, while for the client it is a single system. The creation of a separate unit should provide a holistic approach to this direction.

In the short term, the staff of this division will be about 50-60 people, and subsequently it is planned to transfer employees who physically serve customers in social networks and others, and then the number of staff will be even higher, says Popovsky. Who will become the head of the new division has not yet been determined.

Speaking about the current level of Beeline's digital interaction with customers, the executive vice president of the company for the development of the mass market notes that in the summer of 2013 the operator launched a new version of the personal account that fully meets modern requirements in terms of usability and convenience, which is gaining great popularity.

Compared to the previous version of the personal account, the number of users of the new version has increased significantly, he notes. The number of regular users of the system, according to Alexander Popovsky, as of November 2013 is about 2 million.

The representative of Beeline also notes that this is beneficial for the operator itself - in terms of reducing service costs, and in terms of convenience for the client: “for example, there are often some psychological barriers associated with talking on the phone or in a communication salon besides, it takes more time, and in personal account you can easily see what services are connected, what money is spent on, and more,” Popovsky notes.

2010: Vimpelcom Ltd redeems shares of Vympel-Communications

The company operates in all regions of Russia, CIS countries ( Kazakhstan , Ukraine, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Georgia and Armenia), providing cellular services ( GSM and UMTS) and fixed-line, wired (FTTB) and wireless ( WiFi) high-speed Internet access, IP TV, as well as corporate services (Beeline Business). It operates in Vietnam and Cambodia.

At this time, three geographical business units were allocated in VimpelCom Group - " Russia”, “CIS”, “International business”. . Business unit "Russia" since July 1, 2008 has been developing as an integrated telecommunications business, including mobile and fixed operations.

2009

Acquisition of a 78% stake in the mobile operator Miliccom Lao in Laos for $66 million

On September 17, 2009 VimpelCom announced the acquisition of 78% of the shares mobile operator from Laos Miliccom Lao. The seller of 74% of the shares was the international investment company Millicom International Cellular (registered in Luxembourg, owned by Swedish investors). Another 4% of the shares were purchased from the Dutch offshore Cameroon Holdings (local partner of Millicom). The total amount of the transaction was $66 million, the remaining 22% of the shares belong to the government of the People's Democratic Republic of Laos.

Millicom Lao operates in the GSM 900/1800 standard under the Tigo brand and serves 275,000 subscribers. According to the Rustelecom agency, the company is the third largest operator in the country with a 15% share.

In the summer of 2009, Millicom Corporation made the decision to divest its assets in Southeast Asia. Earlier, the Cambodian operator MobiTel was sold (66% of the operator's shares for $346 million was bought by the local partner of Millicom - Royal Group), the sale of the Celtel Lanka operator from Sri Lanka is next in line. For VimpelCom, Laos has already become the third country of presence in Southeast Asia: this year the Russian company launched its networks in Vietnam and Cambodia. Thus, now VimpelCom has completely covered the territory of the former colony of France - Indochina.

The EBITDA of the acquired company is $13.6 million, the entire company was valued at $102 million at the time of the acquisition, i.e. 7.5 EBITDA.

Finally, Bryukvin notes, Vimpelcom's debt now stands at 250 billion rubles, and the company is better off directing funds not to expensive acquisitions, but to reduce debt.

Start of sales of services under the Beeline brand in Cambodia

On May 4, 2009, sales of Beeline officially started (90% of SOTELCO LTD. shares were acquired) in Cambodia. Beeline subscribers in Cambodia are about 50 thousand inhabitants of this country. The first Beeline product in Cambodia was the Boom tariff plan. This is a unique offer for the local market, the key advantage of the tariff is the low cost of calls to mobile numbers and to other countries. Together with tariff plan Cambodians were able to enjoy additional services"Live Zero" SMS, MMS, GPRS internet and basic services– conference call, caller ID, call forwarding. BeeLine official website in Cambodia: www.beeline.com.kh.

2008

Start of sales of phones under the Beeline brand

In December 2008, branded 3G economy class phones were launched for sale (manufactured by order of the company Huawei). Sales started in the Far East region and will develop as 3G networks develop.

Launch of 3G network in Uzbekistan

Transfer of corporate business under a single brand "Beeline Business"

September 1, 2008 "Beeline" launches into commercial operation "third generation" networks (3G) in St. Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Samara and Chelyabinsk.

The licenses of the VimpelCom group of companies cover territories with a total population of about 340 million people. According to J"son & Partners VimpelCom is the world leader in terms of the number of roaming partners and by the number of roaming countries .

56.5 million subscribers

• 56.575 million subscribers:
  • Russia- 44.259 million
    • Moscow- 8.667 million
  • Kazakhstan- 5.438 million
  • Ukraine- 2.365 million
  • Uzbekistan - 3.015 million
  • Tajikistan - 0.496 million
  • Armenia - 0.814 million
  • Georgia - 0.185 million

Start of provision of communication services in Cambodia

On May 18, 2009, VimpelCom officially announced the launch of mobile communication services in Cambodia under the Beeline trademark through the acquired company Sotelco LTD.

2007

Purchase of 100% of the shares of the operator Golden Telecom

On December 21, 2007, VimpelCom officially announced the purchase of a 100% stake in the operator Golden Telecom for 4.3 billion dollars.

Termination of services in the D-AMPS standard

On the night of November 16-17, 2007, VimpelCom stopped providing services in the D-AMPS standard due to the expiration of the license. All subscribers are transferred to the GSM standard.

Launch of GSM-1800 services in the Jewish Autonomous Region, Koryak Autonomous Okrug and Magadan Region

Since July 2007 - GSM-1800 in the Jewish Autonomous Region, the Koryak Autonomous Okrug and the Magadan Region.

Subscriber base in Kazakhstan 4 million people

As of February 7, 2007, the subscriber base " Kar-Tel reached 4 million people. Until July 2007 LLP " Kar-Tel» also provided services under trademarks K-Mobile and Excess.

Launch of 3.5G network in Tajikistan, 100 thousand subscribers in the country

In March 2007, VimpelCom launched a 3.5G network (HSDPA) into commercial operation in Tajikistan.

As of the end of January 2007, the number Beeline subscribers in Tajikistan reached 100 thousand.

901 thousand subscribers in Uzbekistan

Beeline subscriber base in Uzbekistan by the beginning of February 2007 it amounted to 901 thousand subscribers.

2006

Failure to obtain a license in Moldova

In autumn 2006, the National Agency for Regulation in Telecommunications and Informatics (ANREI) of Moldova announced a competition for the third license in the country in the GSM standard. VimpelCom together with companies Eventis Mobile and Uniton-Prim also entered the competition. The competition was held in two stages. VimpelCom and Eventis Mobile entered the second stage of the competition. On December 26, 2006, the winner of the competition was announced. It was the Moldovan-Cypriot company Eventis Mobile. VimpelCom lost the tender. The explanation for the rejection of the operator's proposal was said that it "weakly takes into account the specifics of the local market."

Purchase of "Armentel" mobile operator from Greeks

On November 16, 2006, a deal was completed on the acquisition of a 90% stake in the mobile and fixed-line operator ArmenTel CJSC from the Greek telecommunications company Hellenic Telecommunications Organization SA ( ArmenTel) for €341.9 million. In addition, “ VimpelCom» took over debt obligations of ArmenTel in the amount of €40 million. Subsequently, the remaining 10% of ArmenTel shares were also purchased from the government Armenia. ArmenTel owns licenses for provision of communication services in accordance with the standards GSM-900 and CDMA. The subscriber base of the company includes 600 thousand fixed-line subscribers and 400 thousand subscribers cellular communication standard GSM. Besides, ArmenTel is a monopolist in the Internet access market Armenia. .

In 2008, the name of the ArmenTel cellular network was changed to Beeline, while the name of the legal entity remained the same.

Negotiations on the purchase of a mobile operator in Kyrgyzstan

At the end of October 2006, the press reported that VimpelCom was negotiating the purchase of the largest cellular operator in Kyrgyzstan, Sky Mobile. The amount of the transaction can be from 400 to 500 million dollars. At the same time, in the summer of 2006, Sky Mobile itself received all the assets of the then largest cellular operator in Kyrgyzstan - Bitel ( Bitel). Transaction progress for VimpelCom» is complicated by the fact that the right to own Bitel is disputed by other Russian companies - Rezervspetsmet and MTS.

Sponsorship of pop star Madonna's concert in Moscow

In 2006, VimpelCom became a sponsor of Madonna's concert in Moscow, which took place on September 12, 2006 at the Moscow stadium in Luzhniki, as part of the world tour Confessions Tour. Vimpelcom entered into an agreement with Warner Music to use the pop star's image in its advertising, as well as the exclusive right to sell the singer's mobile content for a period of five months.

Start of providing services under the Beeline brand in Uzbekistan

September 12, 2006 Uzbek " unitel"began to provide services under the Beeline trademark.

Launch of cellular communication services in Tajikistan under the Beeline brand

September 11, 2006 the company " Takom» began to provide cellular communication services in Tajikistan under the brand name Beeline.

Purchase of a 51% stake in the mobile operator Mobitel in Georgia

On July 12, 2006, VimpelCom announced that it had acquired a 51% stake in the company for $12.6 million Mobitel, a mobile operator in Georgia owned by GMC Group. VimpelCom also acquired an option from GMC Group to purchase the remaining 49% stake. Then Mobitel signed a contract with the company Alcatel for the construction of a new communication network. As part of this project, the entire territory of Georgia will be deployed new network GSM/GPRS/EDGE ready for third generation (3G) services.

In December 2006, VimpelCom began technical operation of the network Mobitel in Georgia. The capacity of the launched network is designed for 300,000 subscribers with the possibility of expanding to 1 million subscribers. On March 15, 2007 the network was put into commercial operation. At the first stage, VimpelCom services became available in Tbilisi and Rustavi, however, by the end of 2007, the company planned to provide coverage in all regional centers, and by the end of 2008, according to the license, it should cover the whole of Georgia.

Launch of the Beeline brand in Ukraine, the subscriber base is 2.8 million subscribers

On April 11, 2006, the official launch of the Beeline brand took place, under which VimpelCom began to provide mobile communication services to Ukraine. As of August 2007, the subscriber base operator Beeline in Ukraine amounted to more than 2.8 million subscribers.

Purchase of 100% of the mobile operator "Buztel" in Uzbekistan

2005

Purchase for $12 million of a 60% stake in the Tajik mobile operator Tacom

On December 29, 2005, VimpelCom announced the acquisition for $12 million of a 60% stake in LLC Takom» (Tacom), a cellular operator in Tajikistan. " Takom» owns licenses for the provision of cellular services in the territory of Tajikistan in the GSM-900/1800, UMTS, CDMA-450 and AMPS standards, as well as services in the field of IP telephony.

Purchase of 100% of "Ukrainian Radio Systems" for $231 million

On November 11, 2005, VimpelCom signed an agreement to purchase 100% of CJSC Ukrainian radio systems". The transaction amount was $231 million. The Norwegian shareholder " VimpelCom", company Telenor did not approve the deal. Telenor planned to enter the market Ukraine through another mobile operator - " Kyivstar", as Telenor"I owned a controlling stake in this company. The Norwegian side filed several lawsuits about the illegality of the purchase" Ukrainian radio systems”, however, they were not satisfied.

Rebranding

On April 4, 2005, a radical rebranding of the company was carried out, which was recognized by experts as extremely successful. The development of the new brand was carried out by the British agency Wolff Olins, who did the design for the album covers of the English musical group The Beatles. It is believed that the brand change led to an increase in Vimpelcom's revenues. In 2006, the same agency rebranded telecommunications companies AFK Sistema, including the main competitor of Vimpelcom - the mobile operator " MTS ».

2004

Purchase of the second largest mobile operator in Kazakhstan for $425 million from the family of President Nazarbayev

Leadership in the launch of EDGE technology

In August 2004 Bee Line GSM was the first Russian cellular GSM- Operators are tested and then launched (December) in Vologda region EDGE technology.

2003: Alexander Izosimov is appointed the CEO, Joe Lunder is the chairman of the Board of Directors

In October 2003, the General Director of OJSC VimpelCom became Alexander Izosimov. Joe Lunder is named Chairman of the Board of Directors.

2002: Leadership in the launch of MMS technology in Russia

In May 2002 - in the "Bee Line GSM" network for the first time in Russia MMS technology starts.

2001

Russia's first GPRS network

In June 2001, VimpelCom was the first among Russian companies to launch a full-scale GPRS network into experimental commercial operation.

Alfa-Eco becomes a shareholder, Joe Lunder replaces Dmitry Zimin at the head of the company

1998: Telenor acquires 25% + 1 share of VimpelCom

In October 1998, the development of the mass market began: a package of services "B +" was produced, designed for the widest range of consumers. For the first time in Moscow, a prepaid payment system was offered using payment cards.