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Beeline (brand)
Telecommunications brand initially introduced in 1993 in Russia From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Beeline (Russian: Билайн, since 2021, it has been stylized as билайн) is a mobile network operator brand operating in Russia under PJSC VimpelCom, and in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan under VEON Ltd. Beeline is Russia's fourth-largest mobile network operator,[1] and main competitors being MTS, MegaFon and T2.[2]
Since 2009, PJSC VimpelCom had been a subsidiary of the Amsterdam based VimpelCom Ltd, which became VEON in 2017. On 9 October 2023, VEON sold Beeline in Russia and completed its exit from Russia, leaving the brand "Beeline" owned by PJSC VimpelCom in Russia and by VEON Ltd. in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan.[3]
The commercial service was launched under the Beeline brand, a brand developed by Fabela in late 1993 to differentiate the company as a youthful and fun company, rather than a technical company. The name comes from the English term "beeline", meaning the most direct way between two points. VimpelCom relaunched Beeline with the current characteristic black-and-yellow striped circle in 2005 with a campaign to associate the brand with the principles of brightness, friendliness, effectiveness, simplicity, and positive emotions; with a new slogan "Живи на яркой стороне" ("Live on the vibrant side"). The rebranding campaign was hugely successful and the principles associated with the brand "captured hearts and minds", in the words of the company.[4]
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Current Russian market
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Russia
History
OJSC VimpelCom was founded in 1992 and initially operated AMPS/D-AMPS network in the Moscow area. In 1996 it became an Extel GSM, the first Russian company listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: VIP).[5][6]
In November 2005, OJSC VimpelCom stepped further with foreign acquisitions by acquiring 100% of Ukrainian RadioSystems, a marginal Ukrainian GSM operator operating under the Wellcom and Mobi brands. The deal has been surrounded by a controversy involving two major shareholders of VimpelCom: the Russian Alfa Group and Telenor, the incumbent Norwegian telecommunications company.[7]
By July 2008, the company's license portfolio covered a territory where 97% of Russia's population resides, as well as 100% of the territory of Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Georgia and Armenia.[8] VimpelCom also has a 49.9% stake in Euroset, the largest mobile retailer in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).[9] In May 2010, VimpelCom merged with Kyivstar to form VimpelCom Ltd., the largest telecom operator group in the CIS. Alexander Izosimov, CEO of OJSC VimpelCom, was appointed president.
In October 2021, the company announced a change in its logo and slogan for the first time in 16 years. In the new version, the name is written with a lowercase letter, and the new slogan sounds like "On your side." The international agency Wolff Olins worked on the rebranding in 2005, and the company's employees were involved in the development of the updated brand with the participation of the Contrapunto creative agency from the BBDO group. The font design studio Contrast Foundry has also developed a new Beeline font. The advertising campaign for the update was prepared by Leo Burnett Moscow (part of Publicis Groupe Russia).[10][11]
In August 2024, Beeline abandoned the 3G frequency range in Moscow, the first Russian mobile operator to complete a project to redistribute its own frequency bands from 3G to 4G. On 13 December 2024, Beeline abandoned the 3G frequency range in Saint Petersburg and the Leningrad Oblast.
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Summer Sound Festival (2023-2025)
For nine years, Summer Sound has been changing the way people think about summer leisure. It's not just a standard weekend festival away from civilization, but a well-thought-out series of vibrant musical events integrated into the urban environment, a concept pioneered in Russia by the Northern Sound team.
For the third time, the main partner of the festival is Beeline, which has already earned the status of a technological and progressive brand. The operator creates products and services that help people in their daily lives. The focus is not on an ideal image, but on real life.[12]
Chess and Jazz Festival (2025)
This year, Beeline has blurred all the boundaries between reality, art, and fantasy at Chess & Jazz.
By teaming up with international artist Taras Zheltyshev (Taras Yoom) and his futuristic universe Yoomoota, Beeline has created an art space where chess has transcended the boundaries of a game and become a part of reality.
The Beeline x Yoomoota space has come to life through people and emotions. Creative workshops, a glitter bar, an interactive phone, chess, and a sea of bright emotions awaited the festival guests in the brand's area.[13] In addition, participants could win unique merchandise, and a few lucky ones received limited-edition pendants inspired by the aesthetics of chess and jazz from Mozi Jewelry!
The Beeline area at Chess & Jazz truly "played summer" on both days, with each visitor receiving memorable gifts and experiencing unforgettable emotions!
The beeline Cup with Sila Vetra (2023-2025)
The Beeline Cup is a large-scale racing event that was held for the third time on sports yachts of own class SV20.[14]
The Cup consists of a series of qualifying regattas that takes place at the Sila Vetra bases across Russia from June to September. Amateur and professional teams participated who wanted to try their hand at cool racing with experienced opponents from different cities.
Suzdalblues Festival 2025
The main blues festival in Russia and an international celebration of motorcycle culture.
Beeline has become the official sponsor and ambassador of the festival in 2025.[15] Thousands of blues, motorcycle, and travel enthusiasts gathered on the picturesque banks of the Kamenka River for three days of music, performances by blues bands, biker competitions, and cultural activities.
In 2020, the Blues Bike Festival was included in the top 100 best blues festivals in the world.
Youth Day in Kazan 2025
One of the venues of the festival dedicated to Youth Day was the Beeline brand zone. There, guests could tell about the important things in a telephone booth, look into the glitter bar, take a snapshot on a Polaroid and win branded merchandise. At the skateboard area, Beeline helped beginners to take their first steps by providing them with skateboards and helmets, and also held competitions on a special figure and organized training sessions for both experienced riders and beginners. For relaxation, a chill-out zone was equipped with soft poufs and charging stations.[16]
Beeline City in Minecraft
In May of 2025 Beeline has introduced its own Minecraft map, "Scam Hunters." The company has created its own city in the metaverse and launched a detective game where players must investigate cybercrimes based on real-life scam schemes.[17]
The game, which integrates artificial intelligence, aims to teach gamers how to avoid becoming a victim of online scammers. For each scammer caught, players receive in-game currency, honeycombs, which can be exchanged for promo codes in the Beeline online store. The more active a player is, the greater the discount. In addition, the game features a hunter rating, and every week, the top 3 players receive prizes.
Pari Fest 2025
Beeline is a partner of the 2025 Paris Fest music and sports festival in Nizhny Novgorod.[18]
As part of the festival, Beeline built a skateboarding area where contests were held with the participation of professionals and open training sessions.
The main theme of the festival, "Genesis," involves the birth of new formats, ideas, and cultural phenomena.
Zoloto Feat Beeline — the "Reincarnation" tour 2025
Zoloto's music — in concerts and recordings — evokes a sense of genuine inner freedom. It's like touching something greater. Perhaps it can be described in a single word: love.
In 2024, the band released their fourth studio album, "Reincarnate", which featured musicians from the band's core lineup, adding their solo performances and unexpected jams to the album's songs. Zoloto embarked on a major tour with a co-branded bus, showcasing their new show in support of the album.[19]
At the concerts, there were Beeline zones where you could create a bright look with glitter, write a message to the artist on a poster, and take polaroid photos!
Beeline space on Yoga Day Russia 2025
Beeline once again became a partner of the annual Yoga Day Russia 2025 festival by Organic People, which brings people together around the idea of health and harmony through yoga practice.[20]
This year, the festival guests were treated to a variety of pleasant surprises. Beeline prepared a special chill-out area, a pop-up where you could win a limited collection of souvenirs from the company, and a glitter bar where you could get a festival-themed makeup.
In addition, the program included various workshops that allowed guests to immerse themselves in the world of self-discovery.
Summer in St.Petersburg with beeline.
Creative agency BALAGAN was responsible for the idea development and implementation.
The idea was simple, but familiar to everyone: in the summer, we plan a lot of things — travel, parties, and experiences. We want every day to be filled with bright events, warm meetings, and happy moments. But often, the reality is different: we stay in the city, continue working, and deal with urgent matters. Beeline and BALAGAN wanted to show that even in such a routine, you can't miss out on the summer — if you notice it in time.
Outdoor campaign
The first step of the campaign was outdoor advertising. Banners with warm lines and reminders of summer appeared on iconic streets, highways, and even at Pulkovo Airport, where people are particularly vulnerable to rush. The slogan became a visual accent and trigger that brought people back to the present moment.
The summer news service
The mediatrack was branded in the colors of Beeline, and was additionally equipped with antennas and running lines. The hosts, blogger Andrey Kokoshka and comedian Ilya Sobolev, caught passers-by and talked to them about everything. The city's residents shared their favorite places, the best spots for romantic dates, and their summer plans. The interviews were shared on social media and public groups.
The point of connection to summer
While the truck was driving around the streets, a real music festival was unfolding in the Sevkabel Port. The "Point of Connection to Summer" attracted passers-by and became the main photo spot of the space, surprising with its details.
The lineup featured street musicians from St. Petersburg and artists who have already become part of the cultural code of the city on the Neva: Melekess, ILYA FISHERMAN, Lensound, PAPA, Melekess, UGLI (UGLI), and many others. Unexpectedly, Tosya Chaikina, who happened to be among the spectators, became a special guest. The concert was open to everyone. There were no announcements or posters, and everything was genuine. It was moments like these that created genuine emotions and made the city come alive.[21]
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Awards
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Ratings and rankings
— The National Rating Agency has awarded PJSC VimpelCom the highest level on the ESG rating scale and recognized the company's leadership in the Climate Change and Society sections, which confirms the high level of integration of the sustainable development agenda and the quality of compliance with relevant practices in the company.
— AK&M, Business Information Agency: Sustainable Development Report — highest level of disclosure RESG-1.
— First place in the rating of social efficiency of the largest holdings.
— The second place in the ranking of social efficiency among companies in the IT industry.
— RAEX Agency:
high level of quality of personnel management in the ESG rating of companies on the quality of personnel management (2025);
8th position in the top 10 Russian companies leading in the quality of personnel development (2024);
28th position in the ESG ranking of Russian companies (2024);
26th position in ESG ranking-transparency of Russian companies and banks (2024);
16th position in the top 50 Russian companies with the greatest attention to human rights, diversity and inclusivity (2023);
39th position in the top 50 companies paying the most attention to their direct impact on the climate (2023);
41st position in the "Top 50 Energy" ranking, which evaluates Russian non-financial companies that pay the most attention to the green energy transition (2023).
— The RSPP Moscow Exchange indices, the B+ rating of the "Responsibility and Openness" index, the B rating of the "Vector of Sustainable Development" index.
— Forbes, rating of the best employers in Russia, platinum category (highest).
— National credit ratings, ESG-index of Russian business, level II (above average).
— The analytical credit rating agency has assigned PJSC VimpelCom an ESG rating of ESG-A, which corresponds to a high assessment in the field of ecology, social responsibility and management.
— League of Green Brands. Beeline has been evaluated annually since 2021 and is included in the green ranking of sustainable companies.
— Leaders of corporate charity. PJSC VimpelCom is recognized as a high-class A company.
National Award "Our Contribution"
2025
For the third time, PJSC VimpelCom has confirmed its status as a partner of the national projects "Demography", "Science and Universities" and "Digital Economy" and for the first time became a partner of the project "Education". The company also received an award in the nomination "Big Business. Network".
Beeline's contribution was assessed on a number of projects:
— support for the inclusion and development of digital competencies for the older generation, the disabled and vulnerable groups of the population;
— an online learning platform for children and adolescents with motor and visual impairments;
— Beeline Medtech in the field of medical cluster development technologies;
— using AI and big data to help the LizaAlert search and rescue team and create effective search and rescue technologies;
— conducting the All-Russian popular Science competition "Science. The territory of heroes."
2024
Beeline's projects in the field of developing artificial intelligence technologies in healthcare and its digital solutions for building a system for searching for missing people and helping people with disabilities adapt were recognized as the best in the Big Business nomination. Network". The company has been confirmed as a "Partner of National Projects of Russia" for its contribution to the implementation of national projects "Digital Economy", "Demography" and "Science and Universities".
2023
PJSC VimpelCom received the status of "Partner of Russia's National Priorities" for its contribution to the implementation of the national Digital Economy project. In addition, the company became a finalist in the Our Contribution ranking, taking second place in the Large Business category. Network".
E+ Awards (formerly Effie Awards Russia)
The prestigious award, which is awarded for the main achievement in the field of advertising and marketing communications — efficiency. The competition has been held since 1968 in 52 countries, on 5 continents and globally.
2024
The company has received three awards at the E+ AWARDS. She won the second place in the nomination "Society and Sustainable Development / Equality of Opportunity (DE&I)" with the project "Childhood by Ear: Discovering the freedom of the digital world". The company took another second place in the Sports Marketing nomination with the love cup project (Beeline CS2 tournament for lovers). The bronze award went to Beeline for a joint special with Sasha Sulim and the participation of real heroines — victims of fraud, as well as a psychologist and director of fraud management of the company, Peter Alferov.
2023
E+ AWARDS (formerly Effie Awards Russia) 2023. beeline and Everland received a bronze award in the nomination "Sustainable Development. Brands. Equality of opportunity."
2021
Effie Awards 2021. beeline received a bronze in the Youth Marketing nomination.
2020
Effie Awards Europe 2020. beeline and Contrapunto agency won the silver award in the "Best of Europe" category in the "Positive change" nomination. The jury highly appreciated the effectiveness of the "Getting lost does not mean missing" service, developed jointly with the Lisa Alert search team. This is a joint SMS information service between Beeline and Lisa Alert to attract volunteers to the local search area.
The project "I recognized a man — I Saved a Man" with the Lisa Alert search and rescue team was awarded in the Special recognition category "For the effective integration of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals", and also received a bronze award in the "Positive Change" nomination./ A positive contribution to society and sustainable development. Brands/Companies".
2019
The gold statuette of the E+ AWARDS (formerly the Effie Awards Russia) 2019 was awarded to the Beeline joint SMS service and the Lisa Alert search and rescue team for attracting volunteers to the local area of search events "Getting lost does not mean missing!" in the category "Contribution to society and sustainable development. Brands".
Charity Program Competition "Leaders of Corporate Charity"
A project of the Donors Forum aimed at supporting, developing and promoting the ideas of corporate charity and social investments of companies.
2023
The Beeline project.inclusion" took the third place in the nomination "The best corporate program (project) to support social innovations in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation" (partner is the Council for the Development of Social Innovations of the Constituent Entities of the Russian Federation under the Federation Council).
2022
The nomination "The best program in the field of inclusion development", 1st place for the Everland online platform for training and employment of people with disabilities.
2021
The Everland online platform for professional training and subsequent employment of specialists with various types of disabilities took the second place in the nomination "The best program (project) in the field of science and education support" and B+ (best practice) in the rating of companies based on the evaluation of the system of charitable programs and social investments of companies in general.
2020
I place in the nomination "The best program (project) using information technologies to achieve the Goals of Sustainable Development" for the solution of the Beeline AI Neural Network – Search for People for the Lisa Alert Search and Rescue Team
2019
Diploma in the nomination "The best program contributing to sustainable development and achieving the goals of charitable activities/social investments through information technology" for the project of remote monitoring of bionic prosthetic hands in cooperation with Motorika.
2018
The first place in the nomination "The best program (project) contributing to the development of volunteerism in Russia" was taken by the joint project of Beeline and the Lisa Alert search and rescue team "Getting lost does not mean missing", an SMS service for the prompt involvement of volunteers in the local area of search activities.
GPM Awards
Green Project Management (GPM) has established the Sustainability Award to celebrate and showcase the achievements and impact of individuals and projects in advancing sustainable development through the implementation of sustainable (green) project management practices.
2022
The Everland platform for training and employment of people with disabilities, with the support of Beeline, took 3rd place in the Projects nomination.
2021
National Competition GPM Awards Russia 2021. The project "Program of cooperation with the search and rescue team "LizaAlert" in search of missing people" took the first place in the category "Social projects". The Autismcare Bracelet project for monitoring the emotional state of a child with an autism spectrum disorder took the third place in the IT Projects category.
International GPM Global Awards. Evgenia Chistova, Head of Sustainable Development, was awarded the Sustainability Award.
Flourish Prize 2021
International Award in the field of sustainable Development. Within its framework, the jury selects 17 of the most interesting cases (in terms of the number of Sustainable Development Goals) from around the world, described by students.
Beeline and a team of HSE students received the Flourish Prize 2021 international award in the Partnership for Sustainable Development category for a case study on the Beeline AI — Human Search neural network for the LizaAlert volunteer search and rescue team.
The Corporate Engagement Awards
The Corporate Engagement Awards recognize the most successful and innovative corporate partnerships and sponsorship, as well as the communication strategies associated with this collaboration.
2020
Beeline and VEON received silver in the nomination "Best community involvement during a CSR program" with an SMS-informing project for volunteers to search for missing people.
People Investor
The competition "People Investor: companies investing in people" has been held since 2008 by the Association of Managers of Russia. The mission of the project is to help identify and disseminate the best practices and innovative practices of socially responsible business conduct in order to increase transparency and competitiveness of Russian companies.
2022
Nomination "Healthy Lifestyle", 2nd place for the BeeWinner employee well-being program.
2020
PJSC VimpelCom became the winner of the competition in the "Building relationships with partners and clients" nomination for an online platform for professional training and subsequent employment of specialists with various types of disabilities, implemented jointly with the inclusive social entrepreneurship project Everland.
It's about the people
The People's Business Project (formerly People Investor) helps identify and disseminate the best practices and innovative practices in socially responsible business to increase transparency and competitiveness of Russian companies in the domestic and international markets.
2024
Beeline won first place in the nomination "Creating a society of equal opportunities" with the project "Digital Literacy Platform for children and adolescents with visual and motor impairments".
The first Russian professional award in the field of sustainable development assessment "Change Management. Visionaries"
The main purpose of the award is to evaluate sustainable practices for the effectiveness of social and environmental investments.
2024
Beeline, together with partner ANO Equal Opportunities Space, won first place in the Unique Synergy nomination for a digital literacy platform for blind children, adolescents and children with motor impairments.
2023
Beeline, in partnership with Everland, took first place in the Best practice nomination.
2022
Nomination "Development of an inclusive environment", 1st place for the Everland online platform for education and employment of people with disabilities.
2020
Beeline AI – People Search neural network solution, created by Beeline for the Lisa Alert Search and Rescue Team, won in the Unique Synergy nomination.
2018
PJSC Vimpelcom (Beeline brand) became the winner of the "Change Management. Visionaries" with the project "To get lost does not mean to disappear!", designed to unite residents of cities to search for missing people through SMS information. The service was recognized as the best in the "Society" nomination.
My place
International Award for NGOs, Businesses and Volunteers
2022
"Leaders of Social Change" nomination, 3rd place for the Everland online platform for education and employment of people with disabilities.
Tagline Awards
The largest digital competition in Eastern Europe
2019
Bronze in the nomination "Best Integrated Project" for the launch of an SMS notification service for the search for missing people.
The White Square
International Marketing and Advertising Festival is one of the largest creative festivals of the communications industry in Europe.
2020
Beeline's "Save the Man" project has received the following advantages: These are voice activation, mobile technologies and innovations that require changes for the better, the use of real-time data, social data and understanding.
DisQuestion. Universal Design
is a study of accessibility of infrastructure for people with disabilities. Beeline has become the market leader in the availability of mobile communication services for people with different types of disabilities.
2018
PJSC VimpelCom (Beeline brand) is recognized as a leader in the availability of mobile communication services for people with different types of disabilities. The results of the relevant research are presented in the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation. The assessment was conducted by people with different types of disabilities, and, accordingly, took into account different requirements for accessibility of the online or offline environment.
Legal Insight Magazine Award "The Best Legal Departments in Russia"
The best practices of managing individual areas of activity of lawyers in the company (claims work, legal and compliance risk management, corporate governance, etc.) and the best legal teams in the country.
2021
First place in the nomination "Effective Corporate Governance".
ProCharity
The ProCharity Project Award, established by the Friends Charitable Foundation.
2019
The Pioneer of ProCharity Award for leadership in the field of intellectual volunteerism and social responsibility. Beeline has become the first large company in Russia to fully implement the intellectual volunteering platform in its activities.
BeeWINNER Employee Well-Being Program Awards
BeeWINNER is a wellness program for VimpelCom employees launched during the pandemic and global lockdown. It is based on five areas of well-being that the company develops to make employees feel more energetic, engaged, happy and achieve the desired results.
— First place in the nominations "Best Corporate Donor Day" and "Leader of corporate donation among commercial organizations" of the III All-Russian competition "Corporate Culture of Donation".
— First place in the All-Russian competition "Investments in the development of a healthy country. Best Corporate Practices — 2023" in the nomination "Development of sports culture".
— The second place in the Save nomination, the international award in the field of HR WOW! HR.
— The best project in the nomination "Creation of an information resource for involving employees in sports and healthy lifestyle", the All-Russian competition "Investments in the development of a healthy country. Best Corporate Practices — 2021".
— Special award "For creativity" in the nomination "Caring for the psychological comfort of employees", the All-Russian competition "Investments in the development of a healthy country. Best corporate practices — 2021.
— The third place in the International Award in the field of corporate communications InterComm, the nomination "Lifestyle".
— "The Best Career Well-being Program", Employee Wellbeing Awards 2021.
Beeline University Awards
Beeline Corporate University was established in 1999 by Dmitry Borisovich Zimin, founder of VimpelCom.
— Employee Wellbeing Awards 2022
Nomination "The best career well-being program", 1st place.
— HR award "Crystal Pyramid"
The second place in the nomination "Corporate University of the Year".
The third place in the nomination "The best Head of talent management".
— The All-Russian award "Coaching in organizations"
Took the third place in the nomination "Model of coaching application in organizations".
— Effective Education 2021 Forum
The "OpenMind School" program for the children of employees won the "Project of the Year" nomination.
— The Leadership Coaching Awards
"Institute of Internal Coaches" was shortlisted in the nomination "Sustainable development - investment in coaching".
"Business Coaching Research" was shortlisted in the nomination "Society and the author's approach in coaching".
HR Brand Award
A competition among companies, which results in awards for achievements in the field of personnel management.
2023
Award in the HR Collaboration nomination for the Beeline joint project with Everland.inclusion".
Data Award
The award was established by the Open Systems publishing house and the Information Service Director portal about IT management. Its goal is to popularize the most significant achievements in the field of working with data in companies in Russia and the CIS countries.
2024
Beeline once again took the award in the nomination "For the implementation of socially significant data-based initiatives" for a large-scale series of initiatives on the use of data analysis in medical projects, implemented jointly with Sechenov University.
2023
The team of Beeline's Directorate for Artificial Intelligence and Digital Products won the award, becoming the winner in the nomination "For the implementation of socially significant initiatives based on data."
Runet Award
The national award in the field of high technologies and the Internet recognizes the outstanding achievements of leading companies that have made a significant contribution to the development of the Russian segment of the Internet.
2024
Beeline became the winner in the Science, Technology and Innovation nomination for the My Security service, which protects the company's customers from fraud and spam.
In the nomination "Children's Runet and Family Values", the organizing committee awarded Beeline and the inclusive social entrepreneurship project Everland with a special diploma for the digital literacy platform for blind children and adolescents.
In addition, the organizing committee awarded the CyberQuiz 2023 project with a separate award in the Information Security nomination.
Special award in the Science, Technology and Innovation category for a digital literacy course for blind children and adolescents.
GSMA Global Mobile Awards
As part of the Mobile World Congress exhibition, the European GSMA organization holds an annual Global Mobile Awards or GloMo competition, in which the best global technology companies receive prizes in various categories.
2020
Beeline AI - People Search solution based on a neural network for Lisa Alert was recognized as the best in the Best Mobile Operator Service For Consumers nomination.
2019
Beeline and Motorica's joint project on remote monitoring of high-tech assistive devices won the "Best Use of Mobile for Accessibility & Inclusion" nomination [22]
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Current Markets
Kazakhstan
In 2004, PJSC VimpelCom, in its first move outside Russia's territory, acquired Kazakhstani cellular operator KaR-Tel (brand names K-Mobile and Excess).[23]
Kyrgyzstan
![[icon]](#/media/File:Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg){kind=small} | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (July 2020) |
Beeline is active in Kyrgyzstan and it is one of the most popular cellular carriers in the country.[24] The first call on GSM network of Kyrgyzstan was made on 1 August 1998. In 2001, the trade name MobiCard was established that turned into the brand Mobi in 2007. In 2009, the company started to provide services under international brand Beeline. As of 2022, the company provides services in standards of GSM-900/1800 and WCDMA/UMTS 2100/900 (3G) and LTE 800/1800/2100/2600 (4G).
Uzbekistan
Beeline is active in Uzbekistan and it is one of the most popular cellular carriers in Uzbekistan.[25][26]
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Former markets
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Perspective
Armenia
On 16 November 2006, PJSC VimpelCom acquired the 90% share of Armentel CJSC (renamed to VEON Armenia in 2017), held by the Hellenic Telecommunications Organization SA (OTE) for €341.9 million.
In 2020, Team CJSC, founded by Armenian businessmen Hayk and Alexander Yesayan, acquired 100% of the shares of "VEON Armenia" and started offering services under the name "Team".[27]
Australia
In November 2018, it was observed that Beeline owned a range of 1000 numbers with the +61 country code, from +61497906000 to +61497906999. Unfortunately, numbers in this range have been used for a technical support scam, posing as a Windows Help Desk in cold calls to Australian and New Zealand numbers.[28]
Georgia
| This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (July 2020) |
The first mobile call with VEON Georgia (brand Beeline) was initiated on 15 March 2007. From this time onward, the company has been actively developing and as of today, it provides 1.3 million customers with 2G GSM 900/1800 MHz, 3G 2100 MHz, 4G 800/1800 MHz and 5G wireless services under the name "Cellfie".[29] Beeline was later bought out by a Georgian businessman[30][31] and is no longer owned by Vimpelcom or VEON, being later rebranded to "Cellfie".[32]
Laos
In 2011, Beeline entered Laos as VimpelCom Lao, replacing former Tigo. 22% shareholding remains with the Lao government. 3G HSPA+ services began in January 2012. Numbers on Beeline Laos are 020-7xxx-xxxx. Beeline Laos 4G LTE is expected to be launched soon. Now it is on a trial period.[33]
Ukraine
Beeline Ukraine (known as Ukrainian RadioSystems (URS) before February 2007) was a mobile operator in Ukraine with 2.22 million GSM subscribers (February 2007). The company operated under Beeline brand. In 2010 Beeline merged with Kyivstar. Now all Beeline Ukraine subscribers became Kyivstar subscribers.
The company was founded in 1995, and Motorola acquired 49% of the company in 1996. URS obtained a GSM-900 license in 1997, but Motorola backed off the venture the same year due to an alleged government favoritism to another mobile operator. The Korean Daewoo acquired ownership, although it failed to grow the business, and eventually sold it to a Ukrainian financial group in 2003. In November 2005, 100% of the company's ownership was acquired by the Russian VimpelCom for $230 million. The deal was surrounded by a controversy involving two major shareholders of VimpelCom: the Russian Alfa Group and Telenor, a Norwegian telecom conglomerate.[7]
Following the acquisition by VimpelCom, all of the company's services have been rebranded as Beeline, similar to a VimpelCom's major mobile assets in Russia. In 2010 Beeline Ukraine (URS) was merged with Kyivstar. Now the company operates only under Kyivstar brand.
Vietnam
In July 2009, VimpelCom cooperated with a Vietnamese telecommunication company, GTel Telecommunications, to open a new mobile phone network in Vietnam called Beeline Vietnam. However, in 2012, after three years of business losses, Beeline withdrew from the joint venture and the Vietnamese market in general. Gtel Mobile continues to exploit the remaining base in Vietnam with a new brand, Gmobile.[34]
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References
External links
Wikiwand - on
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
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