MOSCOW-Russia’s second-largest wireless carrier, Vimpelcom (BeeLine), purchased 100 percent of the East-West Telecom Co., which holds GSM licenses for 12 regions of the greater Urals.
Until the buy, Vimpelcom only ran a GSM 900/1800 MHz network in the Ural region of Orenburg. The deal, valued at US$26.5 million, gave Vimpelcom GSM 900/1800 MHz licenses for another five regions and GSM 1800 MHz licenses for the whole territory, where 24.3 million people live. The licenses are valid until 2013. The carrier must launch by April 2004.
Vimpelcom operates in 35 out of 89 Russian regions. Its immediate priority is to launch service in St. Petersburg, Russia’s second-biggest city, and the whole northwestern territory. Its Vimpelcom-R subsidiary, which is in charge of regional development, signed a contract with L.M. Ericsson to build out the network there. Ericsson will supply and launch a switchboard, more than 170 base stations and controllers, radio relay equipment and software, as well as train personnel. The launch is scheduled for the second quarter of 2003. The cost of the deal was not disclosed.
Vimpelcom-R also received a five-year US$70 million credit line from Russia’s Sberbank, a financial institution, and said the funds will be used “to finance capital investments in the regions.”
