Vimpelcom Russia (merged with Vimpel Communications)

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Open joint-Stock company Vimpel-Communications was formed in 1994 by Russian investors and FGI Wireless. The company was owned by VimpelCom's president (42%), ADS holders (44%), and others (14%) by 1998.The company is the largest private telecommunications service provider in Russia, including the city of Moscow, and three areas constituting the Moscow License Area (its operation regions cover around 68% of Russia's population). The company whose commercial brand was Bee-Line, had licenses to provide the D-AMPS service at 800 MHz in Moscow License Area and in eight regions (Kaluga, Karelia, Ryazan, Samara, Tver, Ulyanovsk, and Volgoda). The company was operated by Macrokom, a Vimplecomm's subsidiary (95% owned). Macrokom held an D-AMPS license for the Moscow region. The license expired in November 1997, was replaced by a license awarded to VimpelCom. This new license expires in 2007. Vimpel-Comm also operates a GSM 1800 MHz cellular service through its subsidiary KB Impulse (88% owned). It accounts for the 52% of the market share in Moscow. The company closed various loans from international bank consortiums, and raised equity through ADS offerings in 1996, and 1997. The GSM 1800 service was launched in 1997. The Bee-line company had given franchise to 24 different operators in Russia by 1998. Vimpel-Comm had a total of 350,500 subscribers in the Moscow area and an additional 21,800 outside the Moscow area by December 1999. Vimpelcom invested in all its Russian subsidiaries US$99.8 million in 1999 and US$72.5 million in 1998. In Mar. 2000, Vimpelcom was awarded a US$ 80 million credit line from Russia Savings Bank. The resources will be used to finace the development of GSM services and the implementation of modern information technology. In mid-2000, the company undertook an equity and bond issuance which allowed it to raise US$ 225.4 million in additional funding. The EBRD acquired 3.2% of the shares issued for US$ 30 million; Telenor also acquired some shares by paying US$ 51.9 million. In 2000, the company invested US$ 100 million in its network and reached a total of 400,000 subscribers. Part of Vimpel Communications. Investment figures included in Vimpelcom from 2003.