Russian mobile operator VimpelCom, working under the Beeline brand is reducing its calls and SMS rates to Ukrainian mobile operator Kyivstar from 31 March. Kyivstar is part of the VimpelCom group.
The offer is available for prepaid users of the Beeline World tariff line, which offers the same rate for calling all Beeline networks in the CIS countries.
Ukraine’s leading mobile operator Kyivstar has announced that it has expanded its fibre-to-the-building (FTTB) fixed broadband service to its 38th city, Rivne.
Kyivstar is in the process of integrating the FTTB infrastructure of sister companies Beeline Ukraine and Golden Telecom.
The company has deployed an urban network in the Rivne area spanning 60km and passing 44,000 households in 353 multi-dwelling premises with direct fibre access enabling connection speeds of up to 100Mbps.
Kyivstar is Implementing Ascade’s Solution for Routing and Trading Including Commercial Routing, Switch Provisioning and Quality Testing
Ascade, the global market-leader in advanced Routing & Trading, Billing and Quality of Service solutions for the Interconnect market, today announced that, Kyivstar GSM Operator (Kyivstar), a Kiev based telecom operator, has decided to implement the Ascade Suite including AscadeRoute, AscadeActivate and AscadeAssure to manage their complete retail and wholesale business. Kyivstar has performed a thorough evaluation process resulting in the Ascade solution becoming a central part of its advanced business decision and management environment. The decision to implement the Ascade solution is a result of growing volumes of voice traffic, increased business complexity and expectations of improved profitability.
With AscadeRoute Kyivstar will further strengthen its end-to-end business process for advanced wholesale and interconnect services by automating its complete interconnect business. As a result Kyivstar can proactively react on new pricing opportunities supported by active trading functionality and secure a superior quality of service thanks to the AscadeAssure test calling capabilities. Followed up by instant implementation of routing orders on to the switch with the advanced switch provisioning tool in AscadeActivate the voice management process will be fully automated.
Kyivstar’s Head of Intercarrier Business Department, Mr. Alexander Medyanovskiy comments: “Wholesale Business is one of the focus areas for Kyivstar and having established a successful carrier business we are now ready to take this operation to the next level. Full automation and end-to-end support that the Ascade system offers will give us the means to excel even more on quality, revenue and margins whilst at the same time guaranteeing accuracy in each step of the way. One of the key vendor selection criteria was to team up with a reliable company that has an excellent track record with numerous implementation projects which we are convinced to have found in Ascade.”
Mr. Klas Peterson, CEO of Ascade contributes: “Geographically the Eurasia region is of strategic importance to us and we are pleased to expand our footprint into Ukraine. When Kyivstar, this country’s leading mobile and wholesale operator, decides to trust Ascade we are of course honoured. With more than 10 years of experience and more than 40 new installations Ascade will together with Kyivstar have all the means to implement the leading tool for a successful business.”
About Kyivstar
Kyivstar is the number one mobile operator in Ukraine and with the recent merger with Beeline the total customer base exceeds 24,5 million subscribers in Ukraine. As the market leader within mobile communication Kyivstar’s currently has about 4,500 employees provide the largest number of Ukrainians with the opportunity of having high quality, reliable and affordable mobile communication. The goal is <<Communication for everyone>>. Kyivstar provides GPRS services all over its coverage territory in Ukraine as well as international GPRS-roaming in 146 countries/territories.
About Ascade
Ascade is the leading provider of advanced interconnects business solutions for voice and data traffic. Our expert’s ability to combine advanced and innovative yet user-friendly software with a strong carrier industry expertise powers our clients to attain a competitive edge on the wholesale voice market.
Customers include Lebara, Reach, TalkTalk, Orange, Tata Communications, iBasis, Telenor Global Services, IDT, SingTel, Telekom Malaysia, Etisalat, Saudi Telecom, du, Qtel, Mobily, Allstream, Elion, Gateway Communications, Rostelecom, PT Telekom, Korea Telecom, T-COM Croatia, Telekom Slovenjie, CTM Macau, Sunrise, Telekom Austria, Starhub, Mobile1, and many more.
Ascade AB is a privately held company owned by founders and leading Nordic investment firms CapMan, listed on the Helsinki Stock Exchange, and SEB Venture Capital, the venture capital division of Nordic financial services group SEB, listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange. Through its presence in Sweden, US, Dubai, and Singapore, Ascade provides support to its customers worldwide.
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: The corporate structure of Vimpelcom has been changed by the company. As per the new structure, Russian mobile operator will divide its reporting structure into four business units, namely Russia, Ukraine, CIS and International, which will report to the company’s headquarters.
Elena Shmatova has been appointed as the general director and she will lead the Russia business unit. Igor Lytovchenko, Kyivstar president will continue to look after the Ukraine business. Dmitry Kromsky will continue to lead the CIS business unit.
Meanwhile, Vimpelcom CEO Boris Nemsic and Vimpelcom general director Alexander Torbakhov have decided to leave the company, effective immediately.
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: 4.8% year-on-year drop in first-quarter revenues has been reported by Ukraine’s largest mobile operator by users Kyivstar which reached UAH2.573 billion (USD328 million). Net profit fell 39.5% to UAH224 million and OIBDA decreased by 10.3% to UAH1.307 billion.
The GSM subscriber’s base of the operator shrank by 3.5% year-on-year to 21.934 million and ARPU for the three-month period was UAH38.5, down from UAH39.1 in Q1 2009.
In another story, Ukraine’s Anti-monopoly Committee has announced that it will not make a ruling on Kyivstar’s planned merger into Russia’s Vimpelcom before the end of June at the earliest.
According to the spokesperson, the decision should be made no earlier than the end of June or even later and added that officials were in the process of re-examining market data, following a complaint from rival Ukrainian cellco Astelit arguing that previous regulatory approval given the deal should have considered market share by revenue rather than by subscribers.
A decision was expected by CEO Alexander Izosimov from Ukraine within the next three months.
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: USD392 million has been earned by Russia’s third largest wireless network operator in terms of subscribers, Vimpelcom for the three months ended March 31, 2010 against a USD297 million net loss a year ago. The results exclude Kyivstar.
According to chief executive Alexander Izosimov, the quarterly results gives the company confidence that the development of its business is on track and looking ahead, it will focus on completing the integration and organizational structure of its new company in order to deal with the changing industry landscape.
Appreciation in the rouble and other operating currencies against the dollar supported the profit of Vimpelcom which recorded a USD105 million foreign exchange gain in the first quarter against a forex loss of USD746 million a year ago. Even the revenue of the company improved mainly due to currency translation effect.
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Eighth Arbitrazh Appellate Court ruling has been cancelled by the Federal Arbitrazh (Business) Court of the West Siberian District, in Tyumen as it has been decided that Telenor East Invest liable for USD 1.73 billion in damages and terminated all proceedings as Farimex Products withdrew its claim against Telenor East Invest on 16 April.
Farimex filed a motion withdrawing its claim against Telenor East Invest and the other defendants in the hearing that took place on April 16. The motion was accepted by the court and a ruling was issued which cancelled the Omsk court’s ruling and terminating all proceedings in the case.
The withdrawal and dismissal of the Farimex case in Russia without any cost or loss to Telenor, is a condition to completion of the exchange offer that will combine Vimpelcom and Kyivstar in the new company VimpelCom Ltd. The company was launched on February 9.
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Telenor and the Alfa Group’s shareholders have been offered by the firm to consolidate their Ukraine and Russian mobile operations, four months after ending their bitter dispute over Vimpelcom.
Approval of the minority shareholders has been seeked by the companies on the long-delayed merger between Russian-based Vimpelcom and Ukraine operator Kyivstar.
The proposed merger was finally cleared by the Russian regulators last week which would create a $23 billion (€16.81 billion) company with around 88 million subscribers, and annual revenues of $12.6 billion. Through this deal, Russia’s third-largest carrier Megafon will be merged with Turkish carrier Turkcell in a 50:50 JV.
However, concerns are raised that the deal would leave Alfa in too dominant a position.
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: The proposed merger between Russian telco Vimpelcom and Ukrainian firm Kyivstar will be completed by mid- 2010. Telenor and Alfa Group, the two shareholders of Vimpelcom, have already agreed to combine common assets in the two cellular operators to create a new US-listed operator, thus, ending years of legal disputes between the two firms.
The proposed company will be based in Netherlands and will provide integrated mobile services to consumers in Russia, Ukraine and other CIS countries, as well as Georgia, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.
1224 GMT [Dow Jones] Deutsche UFG says reported statement from Altimo, the telecom arm of holding company Alfa Group, on wanting to swap shareholdings with Telenor ASA (TELN) “is a step forward” in the resolution of the ongoing conflict between Alfa and Telenor and “undoubtedly positive” for Vimpelcom’s (VIP) operating performance and future strategic development. Deutsche UFG says Altimo, given its reported investment priorities, might want to buy out Telenor’s 27% stake in Vimpelcom and sell its own 43.5% stake in Ukrainian mobile operator Kyivstar to Telenor. Deutsche UFG has a buy rating on Vimpelcom. Vimpelcom closed -1.4% on Monday at $61.(OTA)
Source- http://www.newratings.com
Technorati : Mobile, Vimpelcom
Ice Rocket : Mobile, Vimpelcom
