Beeline () is a

mobile network operator A mobile network operator (MNO), also known as a mobile network provider, mobile network carrier, mobile , wireless service provider, wireless carrier, wireless operator, wireless telco, or cellular company, is a telecommunications provider of se ...

brand operating in

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

under

PJSC VimpelCom PJSC VimpelCom ( or full name , ''PAO «Vympel-Kommunikatsii»'') is a Russian telecommunications company started in 1992 when its co-founders, Dr. Dmitry Zimin and Augie K. Fabela II came together to pioneer the Russian mobile industry. Augie Fa ...

, and in

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan, officially the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia lying in the Tian Shan and Pamir Mountains, Pamir mountain ranges. Bishkek is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Kyrgyzstan, largest city. Kyrgyz ...

and

Uzbekistan , image_flag = Flag of Uzbekistan.svg , image_coat = Emblem of Uzbekistan.svg , symbol_type = Emblem of Uzbekistan, Emblem , national_anthem = "State Anthem of Uzbekistan, State Anthem of the Republ ...

under VEON Ltd. Beeline is

's fourth-largest mobile network operator, and main competitors being MTS,

MegaFon MegaFon () is the second largest mobile phone operator"МегаФон" б ...

and T2. Since 2009, PJSC VimpelCom had been a

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company, or daughter company is a company (law), company completely or partially owned or controlled by another company, called the parent company or holding company, which has legal and financial control over the subsidia ...

of the

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

based VimpelCom Ltd, which became

VEON VEON Ltd. (formerly VimpelCom Ltd.), also known as VEON Group, is a multinational telecommunication and digital services company. Headquartered in Dubai, the company is publicly traded on the U.S.-based NASDAQ stock exchange. VEON operates in s ...

in 2017. On 9 October 2023,

sold Beeline in Russia and completed its exit from Russia, leaving the brand "Beeline" owned by

in Russia and by VEON Ltd. in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. 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 Rebranding is a marketing strategy in which a new name, term, symbol, design, concept or combination thereof is created for an established brand with the intention of developing a new, differentiated identity in the minds of consumers, investors ...

campaign was hugely successful and the principles associated with the brand "captured hearts and minds", in the words of the company.

Current markets

Russia

OJSC VimpelCom was founded in 1992 and initially operated AMPS/

D-AMPS Digital AMPS (D-AMPS), most often referred to as TDMA, is a second-generation ( 2G) cellular phone system that was once prevalent throughout the Americas, particularly in the United States and Canada since the first commercial network was deploy ...

network in the Moscow area. In 1996 it became an Extel GSM, the first Russian company listed on the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is the List of stock exchanges, largest stock excha ...

(). In November 2005, OJSC VimpelCom stepped further with foreign acquisitions by acquiring 100% of Ukrainian RadioSystems, a marginal Ukrainian

GSM The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) is a family of standards to describe the protocols for second-generation (2G) digital cellular networks, as used by mobile devices such as mobile phones and Mobile broadband modem, mobile broadba ...

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 Alfa Group Consortium () is a Russian international privately owned investment groups, with interests in oil and gas, commercial and investment banking, asset management, insurance, retail trade, telecommunications, water utilities and special ...

and

Telenor Telenor ASA ( or ) is a Norwegian majority state-owned multinational telecommunications company headquartered at Fornebu in Bærum, close to Oslo. It is one of the world's largest mobile telecommunications companies with operations worldwi ...

, the incumbent Norwegian telecommunications company. 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

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

Tajikistan Tajikistan, officially the Republic of Tajikistan, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Dushanbe is the capital city, capital and most populous city. Tajikistan borders Afghanistan to the Afghanistan–Tajikistan border, south, Uzbekistan to ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

and

Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...

. VimpelCom also has a 49.9% stake in Euroset, the largest mobile retailer in Russia and the

Commonwealth of Independent States The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is a regional organization, regional intergovernmental organization in Eurasia. It was formed following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. It covers an ar ...

(CIS). In May 2010, VimpelCom merged with

Kyivstar Kyivstar () is a Ukrainian telecommunications company, providing communication services and data transmission based on a broad range of fixed and mobile technologies, including 4G (LTE) services, in Ukraine. The Kyivstar mobile network covers a ...

to form VimpelCom Ltd., the largest telecom operator group in the CIS. Alexander Izosimov, CEO of OJSC VimpelCom, was appointed president. 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 Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

and the

Leningrad Oblast Leningrad Oblast (, ; ; ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). The oblast has an area of and a population of 2,000,997 (2021 Russian census, 2021 Census); up from 1,716,868 recorded in the 2010 Russian census ...

Kazakhstan

In 2004, PJSC VimpelCom, in its first move outside Russia's territory, acquired

i cellular operator KaR-Tel (brand names K-Mobile and Excess).

Kyrgyzstan

Beeline is active in

and it is one of the most popular cellular carriers in the country. 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 LTE may refer to: Science and technology * LTE (telecommunication) (Long-Term Evolution), a mobile telephony standard ** LTE Advanced, an enhancement ** LTE Advanced Pro, a further enhancement * Compaq LTE, a line of laptop computers * Leukotrie ...

800/1800/2100/2600 (4G).

Uzbekistan

Beeline is active in

and it is one of the most popular cellular carriers in Uzbekistan.

Former markets

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".

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 A technical support scam, or tech support scam, is a type of scam in which a scammer claims to offer a legitimate technical support service. Victims contact scammers in a variety of ways, often through fake Pop-up ad, pop-ups resembling error ...

, posing as a Windows Help Desk in cold calls to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

n and

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

numbers.

Georgia

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". Beeline was later bought out by a Georgian businessman and is no longer owned by Vimpelcom or VEON, being later rebranded to "Cellfie".

Laos

In 2011, Beeline entered

Laos Laos, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic (LPDR), is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by Myanmar and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the southeast, and Thailand to the west and ...

a
VimpelCom Lao
replacing former

Tigo Millicom International Cellular SA is a Luxembourgish fixed line and mobile telecommunications services provider operating in Latin America operating under the Tigo brand. Its main shareholder is Xavier Niel, a French billionaire who owns 40% of ...

. 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 In telecommunications, long-term evolution (LTE) is a standard for wireless broadband communication for cellular mobile devices and data terminals. It is considered to be a "transitional" 4G technology, and is therefore also referred to as 3 ...

is expected to be launched soon. Now it is on a trial period.

Ukraine

Beeline Ukraine (known as Ukrainian RadioSystems (URS) before February 2007) was a

mobile operator A mobile network operator (MNO), also known as a mobile network provider, mobile network carrier, mobile , wireless service provider, wireless carrier, wireless operator, wireless telco, or cellular company, is a telecommunications provider of se ...

with 2.22 million

subscribers (February 2007). The company operated under Beeline brand. In 2010 Beeline merged with

. Now all Beeline Ukraine subscribers became Kyivstar subscribers. The company was founded in 1995, and

Motorola Motorola, Inc. () was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois. It was founded by brothers Paul and Joseph Galvin in 1928 and had been named Motorola since 1947. Many of Motorola's products had been ...

acquired 49% of the company in 1996. URS obtained a

GSM-900 GSM frequency bands or frequency ranges are the cellular frequencies designated by the ITU for the operation of GSM mobile phones and other mobile devices. Frequency bands GSM frequency usage around the world A dual-band 900/1800 device ...

license in 1997, but

backed off the venture the same year due to an alleged government favoritism to another

. The Korean

Daewoo Daewoo ( ; ; ; ; literally "great universe" and a portmanteau of "''dae''" meaning great, and the given name of founder and chairman Kim Woo-choong) also known as the Daewoo Group, was a major South Korean chaebol (type of conglomerate) and aut ...

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

and

, a Norwegian telecom conglomerate. 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 Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

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.

References

External links

Investor relations web site

Corporate web site
{{CATV Europe Russian brands Telecommunications companies of Russia Internet service providers of Russia Streaming television Mobile phone companies of Russia Companies based in Moscow Telecommunications companies established in 1993 VEON 01 Telecommunications companies established in 1992 Russian companies established in 1992 Russian companies established in 1993 Mobile phone companies of Vietnam