4 April 2008
The CEO of mobile operator Ukrainian Radio Systems (URS) announced that the company is preparing for the entrance of VimpelCom’s BeeLine GSM brand to Ukraine. It is unclear when the brand will be launched, VimpelCom is currently in the process of registering the BeeLine in Ukraine, but URS said it expects the Russian company to start work in Ukraine by May 2006. Concorde Capital: We think that BeeLine’s launch in Ukraine may be postponed due the uncertainty of VimpelCom’s strategy in Ukraine. VimpelCom is currently considering Tenelor’s proposal to acquire another Ukrainian operator, Kyivstar. In addition, the conflict between VimpelCom’s main shareholders, Telenor and Alfa, raise more question marks about when and who will launch BeeLine.