Telenor Group in Russia
The Russian economy has great growth potential which constantly calls for implementation of state-of-the-art technologies. This gives telecom companies broad business opportunities.
For this reason Telenor Group does business in Russia and is the largest foreign investor in the Russian telecom sector. In 18 years, we have invested 1.2 billion USD into the Russian economy.
Strategic investor in Russia
Our main asset in Russia is VimpelCom – the largest integrated telecom services provider in Russia and the CIS – operating under the Beeline brand. Our mission in Russia is to facilitate technological and operational leadership of VimpelCom through organic growth and international expansion.
Strong subscription growth
When Telenor first invested in VimpelCom in 1998, it had only 124 thousand subscribers, exclusively in the Moscow Region. Today, VimpelCom serves more than 65 million subscribers in nine countries. This means that one in three Telenor subscribers is a customer of VimpelCom.
VimpelCom posted revenue of $2.5 billion and OIBDA (Operating Income Before Depreciation and Amortization) of $1.2 billion in first quarter of 2010.
Facilitating VimpelCom’s global expansion
Telenor Group owns 39.6 per cent of common and 36.0 per cent of voting shares in VimpelCom Ltd. Telenor is represented with three Directors on the Board of VimpelCom, who play an active role in facilitating the Company’s long-term growth strategy while putting emphasis on high standards of corporate governance.
Our investments in VimpelCom are long–term and after a decade of cooperation we look forward to many more years together. We take pride in the work we do together and support VimpelCom in its drive to become a global technological leader and an efficient international telecom operator.
