RUSSIA'S VIMPELCOM PLEASED WITH PROGRESS IN CENTRAL ASIA.

TASHKENT, Dec 3 Asia Pulse - Vimpel-Communications (VimpelCom), a leading provider of wireless telecommunications services in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) announced its financial and operating results for the quarter and nine months ended on 30 September 2007.

According to the company's financial and operating highlights, published on 29 November, net operating revenues reached a record high US$1,955.9 million in the third quarter, a year-on-year increase of 43.9 per cent and a quarter-on-quarter increase of 13.9 per cent.

OIBDA reached a record high US$1,015.2 million, a year-on-year increase of 41.4 per cent and a quarter-on-quarter increase of 13.2 per cent. (OIBDA is defined as operating income before depreciation and amortization.) OIBDA margin was 51.9 per cent, including 52.7 per cent in Russia and 52.7 per cent in Kazakhstan. OIBDA margin is OIBDA expressed as a percentage of total net operating revenues.

VimpelCom's net income totaled a record high US$458 million, a year-on-year increase of 70.7 per cent. Operating cash flow reached a record high US$856.5 million, a year-on-year increase of 34.1 per cent.

MOU and ARPU grew sequentially, including 8.9 per cent ARPU growth in Russia. ARPU (Monthly Average Revenue per User) is calculated by dividing the company's service revenue during the relevant period, including roaming revenue and interconnect revenue, but excluding revenue from connection fees, sales of handsets and accessories and other non-service revenue, by the average number of the company's active subscribers during the period and dividing by the number of months in that period.

MOU (Monthly Average Minutes of Use per User) is calculated by dividing the total number of minutes of usage for incoming and outgoing calls during the relevant period (excluding guest roamers) by the average number of active subscribers during the period and dividing by the number of months in that period.

Commenting on the announcement, Chief Executive Officer of VimpelCom Alexander Izosimov said: "It was another strong quarter for VimpelCom. The company achieved all-time records in key financial parameters: revenue, OIBDA, net income and operating cash flow".