
 
VIMPELCOM ENTERS THE
CAMBODIAN MOBILE MARKET
Moscow and New York (July 21, 2008) - Open Joint Stock
Company “Vimpel-Communications” (“VimpelCom” or the “Company”)
(NYSE: VIP) announced
today that it has acquired a 90% stake in the Cambodian company
Sotelco, which holds a GSM 900/1800 license and related frequencies
for the territory of Cambodia. The transaction was made through the
purchase of 90% of Sotelco’s parent company, Atlas Trade Limited,
for US$28 million from VimpelCom’s largest shareholder Altimo. The
remaining 10% of Atlas will stay with a local partner, a Cambodian
entrepreneur. VimpelCom has also acquired a call option to purchase
the 10% interest of the local partner for market value at the date
of exercise of the option.
Alexander Izosimov, CEO of VimpelCom, said, “We are very happy to announce
the next significant step in implementation of our international
expansion strategy. The Cambodian mobile market offers attractive
growth potential, as the country has a population of 14 million
people and a low mobile penetration estimated at around 18%.
Cambodian market entry is an important part of VimpelCom’s
international expansion strategy particularly within a South-East
Asian cluster of operations started by our entry to the Vietnamese
mobile market. We foresee an impressive growth potential within the
South-East Asian region and cluster synergies”.
This press release
contains "forward-looking statements", as the phrase is defined in
Section 27A of the Securities Act and Section 21E of the Exchange
Act. These statements relate to the anticipated growth and synergy
opportunities in the South-East Asian region. Actual results
may differ materially from those described in such forward-looking
statements as a result of various factors, including unforeseen
developments in competition, or current or future changes in the
political, economic and social environment or current or future
regulation of the Cambodian, South-East Asian and Russian
telecommunications industries. Additional information concerning
factors that could cause results to differ materially from those in
the forward-looking statements is contained in VimpelCom’s public
filings with the SEC, including VimpelCom’s annual report on Form
20-F for the year ended December 31, 2007 and other public filings
made by the Company with the United States Securities and Exchange
Commission, which risk factors are incorporated herein by
reference. VimpelCom disclaims any obligation to update
developments of these risk factors or to announce publicly any
revision to any of the forward-looking statements contained in this
press release, or to make corrections to reflect future events or
developments.
For more information, please contact:
Alexander
Boreyko VimpelCom
Tel: 7 (495) 910-5977 Investor_Relations@vimpelcom.com |
Michael
Polyviou
FD
Tel: 1 (212) 850-5600 mpolyviou@fd-us.com |

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