Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Feb. 27
By Demir Azizov - Trend:
The revenues of Unitel, an Uzbek mobile communication operator rendering services under the trade name Beeline, rose in 2014 by 6.9 percent versus 2013, standing at $718 million.
Unitel is a subsidiary of the Russian telecom company VimpelCom OJSC in Uzbekistan.
VimpelCom said in a message Feb. 26 that Unitel's revenues in the mobile telecom services segment rose by 7.9 percent up to $711 million, while in the segment of the fixed-line telecom services by 2.6 percent up to $8 million.
The revenues from data services went up by 4.1 percent up to $132.3 million.
The operator's investments in the network expansion in 2014 stood at $79 million, decreasing as compared to the previous year by 42 percent.
The operating earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) rose by 33 percent to $461 million, while the marginality of operations increased by 12.7 percent, up to 64.2 percent.
The subscriber base of Beeline (Unitel) expanded in late 2014 by one percent to 10.6 million subscribers. Meanwhile, about 5.5 million subscribers used USB-modems (an increase of 1.02 percent).
The minutes used per subscriber per month rose to 528 minutes compared to 493 minutes a year ago.
In 2006, VimpelCom acquired Unitel, the second largest mobile communication operator in Uzbekistan, from the international consortium headed by the Germanos S.A.
VimpelCom also acquired the Uzbek GSM operator Buztel, and then merged Unitel's and Buztel's networks.
In March 2009, Unitel and the fixed network operator Buzton (Golden Telecom's subsidiary) started rendering commercial services under a unified brand name of Beeline.
Currently, Uzbekistan has five mobile communication operators: Unitel (Russian VimpelCom's subsidiary), Coscom (Scandinavian TeliaSonera's subsidiary operating under the trade name Ucell), Rubicon Wireless Communications (RWC, operating under the trade name Perfectum Mobile), Uzbektelekom Mobile (Uzmobile) and Universal Mobile Systems (UMS).
Universal Mobile Systems (UMS) started on Dec. 1 the commercial operation of the mobile network in Uzbekistan.
The UMS is a joint venture, created by the Russia-based company Mobile TeleSystems JSC (MTS) and the Center of Radio Contact, Broadcast and Television, which is a state unitary enterprise operating under the Uzbek State Committee for Communications, Information and Telecommunication Technologies.
Under an agreement earlier signed between MTS and Uzbekistan, the Russian company received a 50.01-percent share in the UMS, while the Uzbek side got a 49.99-percent share.
The UMS utilizes the infrastructure and equipment of the former subsidiary of MTS in Uzbekistan, the Uzdunrobita.
In February 2014, Uzbekistan decided to establish a national mobile communication operator taking Uzbektelecom's branch Uzmobile as a basis for the future operator.
It will operate on the GSM standard using the LTE technologies.
The operator is scheduled for launching in late March 2015.