Tashkent, Uzbekistan, July 22
By Demir Azizov– Trend:
VimpelCom Ltd announced about the extension of the main license of its subsidiary in Uzbekistan - Unitel, operating under Beeline brand, for rendering communications services, VimpelCom said in a message July 22.
The official exchange rate is 2958.87 Uzbek soums /$1 July 22.
According to the message, VimpelCom renders 2G, 3G and LTE services in Uzbekistan.
The company serves around 9.5 million subscribers, the message said.
According to the message, the company's investments in this market amounted to about $1 billion since 2006.
According to VimpelCom, the application for extending the license for the design, construction, operation and rendering of mobile services was submitted to the Ministry for Development of Information and Communication Technologies in Uzbekistan in May 2016, the message said.
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 Uzbek GSM operator Buztel, and then merged Unitel's and Buztel's networks.
Following a restructuring Buztel became a part of Unitel.
In March 2009, Unitel and the fixed network operator Buzton (Golden Telecom's subsidiary) started rendering commercial services under a unified brand of Beeline.
Currently, Unitel is a leading telecom operator in Uzbekistan.
Uzbekistan currently has five mobile operators.