Telenor Group in Russia
Russian economy has great potential for sustained growth and implementation of the latest technologies, providing telecommunications carriers with a tremendous opportunity for development.
This is precisely why Telenor Group works in Russia being the largest foreign investor in Russian telecommunications industry. We came to Russia in 1992 and invested $1.2 billion in Russian economy over the last 19 years. During this time, dozens of smaller mobile operators and Internet providers developed and scaled their business with direct involvement of Telenor. The majority of these companies eventually evolved in the so-called Big Three of the Russian mobile communications.
VimpelCom—Creating the New World Leader
2011 turned out to be one of the most important years for Telenor's business in Russia. Russian VimpelCom, Telenor being one of its largest shareholders, completed merger with Wind Telecom to become the sixth largest telecommunications company worldwide. Today, VimpelCom offers telecommunications services in 20 countries with the total population of 864 million people under its Beeline, Kyivstar, Wind, Infostrada, Mobilink, Leo, Banglalink, Telecel and Djezzy brands. Vimpelcom is the only Russian telecommunications operator that has become a truly global company.
Sustained Growth of Subscriber Base
When we first invested in VimpelCom in 1998, the year of Russian financial crisis, it served only 124 thousand subscribers exclusively in Moscow region. Today, VimpelCom serves 193 million subscribers in 20 countries being the sixth largest telecommunications operator worldwide. VimpelCom reported revenue of $6 bn in the second quarter of 2011.
Supporting VimpelCom's Global Development
Telenor Group holds 31.67% of common shares and 25.01% of voting shares of VimpelCom. Three directors nominated to the Board by Telenor are actively involved in corporate governance process facilitating implementation of VimpelCom's long-term development strategy.
We are a long-term strategic investor in VimpelCom, and after 10 years of working with this company we are committed to many more years of cooperation. We actively support VimpelCom in its pursue of global technology leadership and transformation into an efficient international telecommunications carrier.
