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VimpelCom Announces Fourth Quarter And Year End 2001 Financial And Operating Results
20 Mar 2002
Moscow and New York (March 20, 2002) - Open Joint Stock Company "Vimpel-Communications" ("VimpelCom" or the "Company") (NYSE: VIP) today announced its financial and operating results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2001. The fourth quarter of 2001 was the fourth consecutive quarter of profitable growth as the Company reported strong results in subscriber acquisitions in the Moscow license area and significant progress in its national expansion. The Company also reported continued growth in net revenues, EBITDA and net income. For the year ended December 31, 2001, VimpelCom reported net revenues of $422.6 million, a year-to-year growth of 54.2% from $274.1 million in 2000; EBITDA of $148.5 million, a year-to-year growth of 185.5% from $52.0 million in 2000; and net income of $47.3 million compared to a net loss of $77.8 million in 2000. As of December 31, 2001, VimpelCom had approximately 2.11 million subscribers on its wireless networks and networks operated by VimpelCom's subsidiaries, including 1.91 million subscribers in the Moscow license area, a total year-to-year growth of approximately 153.3%. As of today, VimpelCom's total number of subscribers reached approximately 2.6 million, with approximately 2.33 million subscribers in the Moscow license area. Using independent sources to estimate the number of subscribers of the Company's competitors in the Moscow license area, VimpelCom estimates that its market share in the Moscow license area was 46.5% at the end of 2001, a significant improvement compared to the Company's estimated market share of 39.1% reported at the end of 2000. Commenting on today's announcement, Jo Lunder, CEO and General Director of VimpelCom, said, "2001 was a breakthrough year for VimpelCom. During 2001, the Company: continued its trend of increasing profitability every quarter; showed strong revenue and EBITDA growth; regained leadership in gross sales and net subscriber additions in the key Moscow market through successful marketing and advertising campaigns as well as its high quality network and customer service; concluded a strategic partnership agreement with Alfa Group, a leading Russian financial industrial consortium, in order to accelerate the Company's national expansion; and between May and December, doubled its total subscriber base from 1 million to 2 million subscribers, with a strong growth trend continuing into 2002." Mr. Lunder continued, "In 2002, we plan to further strengthen our position in Moscow and continue to upgrade and expand our national operations. A distinctive feature of our strategy is to provide our subscribers with the same high quality services across Russia in a unified nationwide wireless network." For more information, please contact: Valery Goldin Sigrid Peterson VimpelCom (Moscow) Edelman Financial Worldwide Tel: 7(095) 974-5888 Tel: 1(212) 704-8284 vgoldin@vimpelcom.com Sigrid.Peterson@edelman.com
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VimpelCom
Altimo, a leading private equity group, operating on some of the world's most desirable and potentially lucrative mobile telecommunications markets, was created in 2005 from Alfa Telecom, which itself was established in 2004 to hold the telecoms investments of the Alfa Group Consortium (Golden Telecom, Inc., Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S., Kyivstar GSM, MegaFon, VimpelCom, Sky Mobile). Those assets are in Russia, the CIS and other promising emerging markets.
VimpelCom consists of telecommunications operators providing voice and data services through a range of wireless, fixed and broadband technologies. The Group includes companies operating in Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Georgia and Armenia, in territories with a total population of about 340 million. The Group companies provide services under the "Beeline" brand. VimpelCom was the first Russian company to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange (under the symbol "VIP"). In Q1 2008, VimpelCom acquired 100% of the oustanding share capital of Golden Telecom, a leading facilities-based provider of integrated telecommunications and Internet services in Russia and the CIS.
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