Beeline (russian: Билайн), earlier Bee Line GSM (russian: Би Лайн GSM) is a
telecommunications
Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that fe ...
brand by company
PJSC VimpelCom
PJSC VimpelCom (russian: ПАО «ВымпелКом» or full name russian: ПАО «Вымпел-Коммуникации», ''PAO «Vympel-Kommunikatsii»'') is a Russian telecommunications company started in 1992 when its co-founders, Dr. Dmi ...
, founded in Russia.
PJSC VimpelCom is
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
's third-largest wireless and second-largest telecommunications operator. Its headquarters is located in
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
. Since 2009, PJSC VimpelCom has been a
subsidiary
A subsidiary, subsidiary company or daughter company is a company owned or controlled by another company, which is called the parent company or holding company. Two or more subsidiaries that either belong to the same parent company or having a s ...
of VimpelCom Ltd., which has become
Veon
VEON Ltd. (formerly VimpelCom Ltd.) is a Dutch-domiciled multinational telecommunication services company. It predominantly operates services in the regions of Asia, Africa and Europe. It is the 13th largest mobile network operator in the world ...
in 2017. It is based in
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...
. VimpelCom's main competitors in Russia are
Mobile TeleSystems
MTS (russian: Мобильные ТелеСистемы, МТС, "Mobile TeleSystems"), headquartered in Moscow, is the largest mobile network operator in Russia, operating on GSM, UMTS and LTE standards. Apart from cellular network, the compan ...
,
MegaFon
MegaFon (russian: МегаФон), previously known as North-West GSM, is the second largest mobile phone operator and
Tele2
Tele2 AB is a Swedish telecommunications operator headquartered in the Kista Science City, Stockholm, Sweden. It is a major telephone operator in Sweden, Russia, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Tele2 also has a 25% share in T-Mobile Netherland ...
.
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
A bee line is an idiom for the shortest route or a straight line between two points (see "as the crow flies"): bee line, bee-line, or beeline may also refer to:
Brands and enterprises
* Beeline (brand), a telecommunications brand by VimpelCom L ...
", 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 bright 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.
History in Russia
OJSC VimpelCom was founded in 1992 and initially operated
AMPS/
D-AMPS
IS-54 and IS-136 are second-generation ( 2G) mobile phone systems, known as Digital AMPS (D-AMPS), and a further development of the North American 1G mobile system Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS). It was once prevalent throughout the America ...
network in Moscow area. In 1996 it became 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 of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed c ...
().
In November 2005 OJSC VimpelCom stepped further with foreign acquisitions by acquiring 100% of
Ukrainian RadioSystems, a marginal
Ukrainian
Ukrainian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Ukraine
* Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe
* Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine
* So ...
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
Alfa Group Consortium () is 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 sit ...
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 worldwide, ...
, the incumbent
Norwegian
Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to:
*Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe
* Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway
* Demographics of Norway
*The Norwegian language, including ...
telecommunications company.
The company's current (as of July 2008) license portfolio covers a territory where 97% of Russia's population resides, as well as 100% of the territory of
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...
,
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
,
Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked cou ...
,
Tajikistan
Tajikistan (, ; tg, Тоҷикистон, Tojikiston; russian: Таджикистан, Tadzhikistan), officially the Republic of Tajikistan ( tg, Ҷумҳурии Тоҷикистон, Jumhurii Tojikiston), is a landlocked country in Centr ...
,
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to the ...
, and
Armenia
Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...
. VimpelCom also has a 49.9% stake in
Euroset
Euroset (russian: Евросеть) was Russia's largest mobile phone retailer, with over 5,000 stores across Russia and Belarus. In 2006, the company controlled 37% of the Russian mobile retail market and in 2010 it employed some 27,000 people. I ...
, the largest mobile retailer in Russia and the
Commonwealth of Independent States
The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is a regional intergovernmental organization in Eurasia. It was formed following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. It covers an area of and has an estimated population of 239,796,010. ...
(CIS). In May 2010 VimpelCom merged with
Kyivstar
Kyivstar ( uk, Київстар) is a Ukrainian telecommunications company, providing communication services and data transmission based on a broad range of fixed and mobile technologies, including 4G (LTE) in Ukraine.
The Kyivstar mobile netw ...
to form
VimpelCom Ltd.
VEON Ltd. (formerly VimpelCom Ltd.) is a Dutch-domiciled multinational telecommunication services company. It predominantly operates services in the regions of Asia, Africa and Europe. It is the 13th largest mobile network operator in the wor ...
, the largest telecom operator group in the CIS.
Alexander Izosimov, CEO of OJSC VimpelCom, was appointed president.
Outside Russia
Armenia
On 16 November 2006, PJSC VimpelCom acquired the 90% share in
Armentel CJSC held by the Hellenic Telecommunications Organization SA (
OTE
OTE is the national telecommunications provider of Greece.
OTE may also refer to:
* Ocean thermal energy conversion, a renewable energy source
* Oda of Haldensleben (978–1023), daughter of the Margrave of the North March, Theoderich
* On-ta ...
) for €341.9 million.
Australia
In November 2018 it was observed that Beeline owns 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 fraud in which a scammer claims to offer a legitimate technical support service. Victims contact scammers in a variety of ways, often through fake pop-ups resembling error messages or ...
, posing as a Windows Help Desk in cold calls to Australian and New Zealand numbers.
Georgia
Beeline is active in Georgia. The first mobile call with Veon Georgia (brand Beeline) was initiated on March 15, 2007. From this time onward, the company has been actively developing and as of today it provides 1.3 million customers with 2G GSM 900/1800MHz, 3G 2100 MHz and 4G 800/1800 MHz wireless services.
Kazakhstan
In 2004, PJSC VimpelCom, in its first move outside Russia's territory, acquired
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...
i cellular operator KaR-Tel (brand names
K-Mobile and
Excess).
Kyrgyzstan
Beeline is active in Kyrgyzstan and it is one of the most popular cellular carrier in Kyrgyzstan. The first call on GSM network of Kygyzstan was made on August 1st, 1998. In 2001 the trade name MobiCard was established that turned into brand Mobi in 2007. In 2009 company started to provide services under international brand Beeline. As for 2022 company provides services in standards of GSM-900/1800 and WCDMA/UMTS 2100/900 (3G) and LTE 800/1800/2100/2600 (4G).
Laos
In 2011 Beeline entered
Laos
Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist ...
a
VimpelCom Lao replacing former
Tigo
Millicom International Cellular SA (NASDAQ U.S.: TIGO, NASDAQ Stockholm: TIGO_SDB) is a Luxembourgish fixed line and mobile telecommunications services provider dedicated to emerging markets in Latin America operating under the Tigo brand. As of ...
. 22% shareholding remains with 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 mobile devices and data terminals, based on the GSM/EDGE and UMTS/HSPA standards. It improves on those standards' capacity and speed by us ...
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 wireless service provider, wireless carrier, cellular company, or mobile network carrier, is a provider of wireless communications services that owns or controls all the elements necessary to sell ...
in
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
with 2.22 million
GSM
The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) is a standard developed by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) to describe the protocols for second-generation ( 2G) digital cellular networks used by mobile devices such ...
subscribers (February 2007). The company operated under Beeline brand. In 2010 Beeline merged with
Kyivstar
Kyivstar ( uk, Київстар) is a Ukrainian telecommunications company, providing communication services and data transmission based on a broad range of fixed and mobile technologies, including 4G (LTE) in Ukraine.
The Kyivstar mobile netw ...
. Now all Beeline Ukraine subscribers became Kyivstar subscribers.
The company was founded in 1995, and
Motorola
Motorola, Inc. () was an American Multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, United States. After having lost $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009, the company split into two independent p ...
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 i ...
license in 1997, but
Motorola
Motorola, Inc. () was an American Multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, United States. After having lost $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009, the company split into two independent p ...
backed off the venture the same year due to an alleged government favoritism to another
mobile operator
A mobile network operator (MNO), also known as a wireless service provider, wireless carrier, cellular company, or mobile network carrier, is a provider of wireless communications services that owns or controls all the elements necessary to sell ...
. The Korean
Daewoo
Daewoo ( ; Hangul: , Hanja: , ; 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 conglomerat ...
picked up the ownership, didn't do much to grow the business and 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
Alfa Group Consortium () is 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 sit ...
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 worldwide, ...
, 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 company operates only under Kyivstar brand.
Uzbekistan
Beeline is active in Uzbekistan and it is one of the most popular cellular carrier in Uzbekistan.
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
Gmobile is a Vietnamese mobile network operator. The brand Gmobile is owned by GTel Mobile and is the successor of Beeline Vietnam. GTel in turn is owned by Global Telecommunications Corporation, a state-owned joint-stock company under the Mini ...
.
References
External links
Investor relations web siteCorporate 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
Telenor
Russian companies established in 1992
Russian companies established in 1993