Russia’s VimpelCom owns 100% stake in Unitel, Uzbek mobile operator, which renders services under Beeline brand. VimpelCom has announced its financial and operating results for the quarter and nine months ended on 30 September 2007.

The company said VimpelCom’s active subscriber base grew by 227.7% year-on-year and 33.1% quarter-on-quarter. This growth, coupled with a 5.6% increase in ARPU, led to a healthy 29.3% quarter-on-quarter revenue growth and OIBDA margin expansion to 56.1%.

With a mobile penetration rate of only about 17%, VimpelCom’s operational focus in Uzbekistan remains on accelerating network build-out, maintaining high subscriber growth and developing our sales and distribution network, the announcement said.

The number of registered subscribers of VimpelCom in Uzbekistan made up over 1.63 million in the third quarter of 2007, which is almost three-fold more compared with the same period of 2006. The number of subscribers grew by 33.2% on a quarter-on-quarter basis, as the company had nearly 1.22 million clients in Uzbekistan by the second quarter 2007 end.

Unitel held 35.6% mobile market in Uzbekistan in the third quarter of 2007 compared to 25% a year ago and 32.7% at the end of the second quarter.

Net operating revenue, excluding inter-company transaction, grew by 90.8% year-on-year to 29.913 million in third quarter. Net income of VimpelCom in Uzbekistan increased by 113% year-on-year and 61.7% quarter-to-quarter to US$6.879 million at the end of the third quarter.

The company said MOU decreased by 4.9% year on-year to 289.8 minute and increased by 9.1% quarter-to-quarter to 265.6 minute.

Alexander Izosimov, Chief Executive Officer of VimpelCom, 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.

“We are pleased with our progress in Russia and in the CIS countries, particularly in Ukraine and Uzbekistan. On the back of strong revenue growth, OIBDA of our Ukrainian business moved into positive territory, confirming our ability to build.”