VimpelCom announces the acquisition of cellular company with operations in parts of Far East super-region of Russia
30 Jun 2004

Dal Telecom is a GSM-1800 and D-AMPS operator with licenses to operate in three regions within the super-region (Khabarovsk Krai, Amur Region and Kamchatka Region) covering a population of 2.7 million. Dal Telecom holds a market share of approximately 45% in the areas where it operates. Dal Telecom's subscriber base as of June 30, 2004 was more than 322,000 (including 268,000 GSM subscribers) which, according to independent estimates, represented a market share of approximately 20% in the Far East super-region.

Commenting on today's announcement, Alexey Mischenko, Vice President of Business Development of VimpelCom, said, "We are very pleased to announce the acquisition of Dal Telecom which gives us access to operations in important parts of the Far East, the only super-region where we did not have a GSM license".

With the acquisition of Dal Telecom the VimpelCom Group's license portfolio covers approximately 136 million people or 94% of Russia's population.

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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