VEON Ltd. (formerly VimpelCom Ltd.) is a Dutch-domiciled multinational

telecommunication services 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 ...

company. It predominantly operates services in the regions of

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

and

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

. It is the 13th largest mobile network operator in the world by number of subscribers The company operates in nine markets including

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

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 ...

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 ...

Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan,, pronounced or the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the south, and the People's Republic of China to the ea ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

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 ...

and

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 co ...

. VEON's brands include

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 ...

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 ...

Djezzy Djezzy (Arabic: جازي) is Algeria's principal mobile network operator, with a market share of 65% (over 16.49 million subscribers in December 2016) and a network covering 90% of the population (48 wilayas). Djezzy is wholly owned by the Algeria ...

, Jazz Pakistan,

Banglalink Banglalink Digital Communications Ltd., d.b.a. Banglalink ( bn, বাংলালিংক; previously Orascom Telecom Bangladesh Ltd.) is a Bangladeshi telecommunications company headquartered in Dhaka. It's the third-largest mobile networ ...

and others.

History

Russian

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. Dm ...

was founded in 1992 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 millio ...

when VimpelCom's co-founders, Russian Dmitry Zimin and American Augie K. Fabela II came together to pioneer a new direction in the Russian mobile industry - their company was one of the first mobile carriers in Russia. Augie Fabela, who was then a young entrepreneur from the United States, and Zimin, who was a Russian scientist in his fifties, together launched the Beeline brand in 1993. Its name derives from ''вымпел'', the Russian word for pennon.

Stock Exchange Listing

VEON is listed on Nasdaq in New York and Euronext in Amsterdam. The company has thousands of shareholders from around the world.

Company History

VimpelCom Ltd. holding company was founded in 2009. In 2009, Telenor and Alfa agreed to merge their assets in VimpelCom and Kyivstar (Ukraine's number one wireless operator) with the aim of creating VimpelCom Ltd. (incorporated in

Bermuda ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = National song , song = "Hail to Bermuda" , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , mapsize2 = , map_caption2 = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = , es ...

). In October 2010, the united company acquired from

Naguib Sawiris Naguib Onsi Sawiris (or Sawires; ar, نجيب اُنسى ساويرس ; ; born 15 June 1954) is an Egyptian billionaire businessman. Sawiris is chairman of Weather Investments's parent company, and the former chairman and CEO of Orascom Telec ...

two assets: * Orascom Telecom Holding S.A.E., the largest mobile phone company in

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...

; *

Wind Wind is the natural movement of air or other gases relative to a planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heating of land surfaces and lasting a few ho ...

, the third largest mobile phone company in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. As of 31 December 2011, the company had 205 million customers across 20 countries. After several divestments and a business transformation, by summer 2017, VEON had a combined subscriber base of more than 200 million across 12 markets. The company announced that it would switch the listing of its ADS shares from the NYSE to the NASDAQ with trading beginning on 10 September 2013. In February 2015, the government of Algeria acquired a 51% stake in Djezzy for US$2.6 billion.

2015–present

In September 2014, VimpelCom agreed to sell its majority stake in Canadian mobile operator

Wind Mobile Freedom Mobile Inc. is a Canadian wireless telecommunications provider owned by Shaw Communications. It has 6% market share of Canada, mostly in urban areas of Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta. Freedom Mobile is the fourth-largest wirele ...

for $272 million to its minority owner

Globalive Globalive is a Canadian telecommunications and investment company founded in 1998. It is based in Toronto, Ontario. Globalive is best known for its telecommunication businesses like WIND Mobile, Yak Communications, and OneConnect. The company, G ...

. In summer 2015, the United States Justice Department claimed that VimpelCom used a network of shell companies and phony consulting contracts to funnel bribes to a close relative of the president of

, in exchange for access to that country's telecommunications market. The board of one part-owner, Norwegian telecom operator Telenor, has severed consulting ties with its former chief executive

Jon Fredrik Baksaas Jon Fredrik Baksaas (born 1954) is the Chairman of the GSMA and until August 2015 the CEO of Telenor. He now serves as a special adviser to the telecommunications company's Group Executive Management team. Among the longest-serving top executives ...

due to the continuing police investigation. In November 2015 the CEO, Jo Lunder was arrested on corruption charges in

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population ...

, Norway. The case alleges that in exchange for an operating license, VimpelCom has funneled $57.5M to Takilant, a company linked to

Gulnara Karimova Gulnara Islamovna Karimova (Cyrillic Uzbek: ; russian: Гульнара Исламовна Каримова, ; born 8 July 1972) is the elder daughter of Islam Karimov, the president of Uzbekistan from 1991 to his death in 2016. She wielded cons ...

, the daughter of Uzbek President

Islam Karimov Islam Abduganiyevich Karimov ( uz, Islom Abdugʻaniyevich Karimov / Ислом Абдуғаниевич Каримов, italics=no; russian: link=no, Ислам Абдуганиевич Каримов; 30 January 1938 – 2 September 2016) was t ...

. In February 2016, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced a global settlement along with the U.S. Department of Justice and Dutch regulators that requires telecommunications provider VimpelCom Ltd. to pay more than $795 million to resolve its violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) to win business in Uzbekistan. In February 2017, VimpelCom renamed itself VEON, named after the messaging platform that it had developed. The company explained that the re-branding, under the guidance of Peter Arnell, was part of a shift towards marketing themselves as a technology company, and not solely a telecommunications firm. In April 2017, VEON announced the listing and trading of shares of VEON on Euronext Amsterdam. In July 2017, VEON announced launching Personal Internet Platform named VEON in major markets: Italy, Ukraine, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Georgia. The platform provides contextualized, personalized internet experiences and opportunities, enabling customers to call, chat, read, watch, listen and share media, manage account (top up, opt in/out services). In March 2018, CEO Jean-Yves Charlier resigned and CEO duties were temporarily assumed by VEON's chair,

Ursula Burns Ursula M. Burns (born September 20, 1958) is an American businesswoman. Burns is mostly known for being the CEO of Xerox from 2009 to 2016, the first among black women to be a CEO of a Fortune 500 company, and the first woman to succeed another a ...

. Burns was appointed as CEO, while remaining as chairman, in December 2018. In October 2019, VEON hired former ex-Turkcell CEO Kaan Terzioğlu as COO of VEON Group, together with Sergi Herrero. In February 2020, Herrero and Terzioğlu were appointed co-CEOs, succeeding Burns. In June 2020, Gennady Gazin succeeded Burns as chairman. Veon will buy remaining 15% shares in

Jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

from Abu Dhabi Group for 100pc ownership

Owners

Veon Shareholder Structure: * 47.9% of common and voting shares owned by

LetterOne LetterOne Holdings S.A. (LetterOne) is an international investment business based in Luxembourg. Its investments are focused on the telecoms, technology and energy sectors through its two main business units, L1 Energy and L1 Technology. Busine ...

(

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 ...

) * 43.8% of common and voting shares - Free Float (Minority Shareholders) * 8.3% of common and voting shares - The Stichting

Subsidiaries and shareholdings

(100%) ** Golden Telecom and Golden Telecom Ukraine (Delaware, United States, acquired in 2007) *** Corbina Telecom (acquired in 2006) *** Cityline (ISP) (acquired in 2001) *** Global TeleSystems (GTS), formerly San Francisco Moscow Teleport (SFMT), founded in 1983 by

VNIIPAS The All Union Scientific Research Institute for Applied Automated Systems (VNIIPAS/ВНИИПАС) was a Soviet research institute that provided a computer network service, including international digital connections. It was the central node of ...

and an American team which included

George Soros George Soros ( name written in eastern order), (born György Schwartz, August 12, 1930) is a Hungarian-American businessman and philanthropist. , he had a net worth of US$8.6 billion, Note that this site is updated daily. having donated mo ...

**** EDN Sovintel (Soviet-American joint venture company founded in 1990, acquired in 2001) **** SovAm (Soviet-American) Teleport (founded in 1990 by SFMT) ***** GlasNet ***** Russia-On-Line (acquired in 1999) *

(100%) * Orascom Telecom Holding S.A.E. (51.7%)http://www.vimpelcom.com/pr/fs.wbp **

SLTMobitel SLT-MOBITEL (formerly known as Sri Lanka Telecom, si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා ටෙලිකොම්, Śrī Laṃkā Ṭelikom, ta, ஸ்ரீலங்கா டெலிகொம்) is the national telecommunications services provide ...

(44.98%) *

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 ...

(50%) * VEON Wholesale Services (100%) *

(100%) *

(100%) * E-Mobile (100%)

References

External links

*
VEON App Launched
{{Major telecommunications companies VEON Telecommunications companies of the Netherlands Holding companies of the Netherlands Internet service providers of the Netherlands Mobile phone companies of the Netherlands Telenor Multinational companies headquartered in the Netherlands Companies based in Amsterdam Holding companies established in 2009 Telecommunications companies established in 2009 2009 establishments in the Netherlands Companies formerly listed on the New York Stock Exchange Companies listed on the Nasdaq Alfa Group Dutch brands