VimpelCom Completed Registration and Licensing of GTEL-Mobile
24 Sep 2008

Moscow and New York (Sepember 24, 2008) - Open Joint Stock Company “Vimpel-Communications” (“VimpelCom” or the “Company”) (NYSE: VIP) announced today that its joint venture company in Vietnam, GTEL-Mobile Joint Stock Company (the “Joint Venture Company”), has received a GSM license and frequencies.

As previously reported, in July 2008 VimpelCom signed a Joint Venture and Shareholders Agreement (the “Agreement”) to establish the Joint Venture Company with Global Telecommunications Corporation (“GTEL”), a Vietnamese state-owned enterprise, and GTEL TSC, a subsidiary of GTEL.  With the issuance of the GSM license and frequencies, the Joint Venture Company has now received all of the regulatory approvals required under the Agreement, including the registration of the Joint Venture Company.

VimpelCom is paying US $267 million for its 40% equity interest in the Joint Venture Company. GTEL and GTEL TSC will have an equity interest of 51% and 9%, respectively, in the Joint Venture Company.

Alexander Izosimov, CEO of VimpelCom said, “The registration of GTEL-Mobile and the receipt of the GSM license and frequencies is the key milestone in the building of our Vietnamese business. Now, with all the procedural issues solved, we can focus all our efforts on the network rollout and the preparation of commercial launch. The experience that our team has already gained in Vietnam will help us to work effectively going forward and to take advantage of all the opportunities the Vietnamese market offers.”

VimpelCom Ltd.

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 (VimpelCom Ltd., MegaFon and Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S.). Those assets are in Russia, the CIS and other promising emerging markets.

VimpelCom Ltd. provides voice and data services through a range of wireless, fixed and broadband technologies. VimpelCom Ltd. is headquartered in Amsterdam and has operations in Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Georgia, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Algeria, Bangladesh, Canada, Italy, Pakistan, Burundi, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Central African Republic covering territory with a total population of about 843 million with over 181 mln subscribers. VimpelCom Ltd. operating companies provide services under the "Beeline", "Kyivstar", "Djuice", "Wind", "Infostrada", "Mobilink", "Leo", "Banglalink", "Telecel" and "Djezzy" brands. VimpelCom Ltd. is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "VIP". As of 31 December 2010, Altimo owned 44.65% of the voting shares of VimpelCom Ltd. (since June 2011 -  24.99%).

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