Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Dec. 2
By Demir Azizov- Trend:
The mobile operator Beeline (known as Unitel LLC, a subsidiary of the Russian company VimpelCom in Uzbekistan) has launched new mobile messenger Va4ach, which is domestic analogue of popular services WhatsApp, Viber and Telegram, the leadership of the company told Trend.
It is really a unique project for Uzbekistan, which is directed at creation of the most affordable communication for subscribers of Beeline, commercial director of Unitel Maksim Efremov said.
Advantages of new Va4ach is that Beeline will not charge for used traffic, while users can quickly share photos, videos and voice messaging and send notifications. The presentation of the messenger was held in Tashkent on December 1, 2015. Beeline subscribers with Android devices can download the app from Google Play.
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.
By the third quarter of 2015, the number of its subscribers exceeded 10.3 million.
Uzbekistan currently has five mobile operators - Unitel, Coscom (the subsidiary of the Scandinavian TeliaSonera, trademark Ucel), Rubicon Wireless Communications (RWC, trademark Perfectum Mobile), Uzbektelekom Mobile (Uzmobile) and the Uzbek-Russian company, the Universal Mobile Systems (UMS).