Formerly | VimpelCom Ltd. (2009–2017) |
---|---|
Company type | Public |
Nasdaq: VEON Euronext Amsterdam: VEON | |
Industry | Telecommunications |
Predecessor | PJSC VimpelCom and Kyivstar |
Founded | 2009 |
Founder | Dmitry Zimin Augie K. Fabela |
Headquarters | , |
Area served | Africa, Asia, Europe |
Key people | Morten Lundal (chairman) Kaan Terzioğlu (CEO) |
Products | Mobile telephony, mobile phones retailing, international telephony, broadband Internet, IPTV, city-wide Wi-Fi, domain name registrar and others |
Revenue | US$ 9.78 billion (2016) [1] |
Total assets | US$ 33.85 billion (2016) [2] |
Owners | Letterone (47.9%) Free Float (43.8%) The Stichting (8.3%) |
Number of employees | 66,000 |
Website | veon.com |
VEON Ltd. (formerly VimpelCom Ltd.) is a Dutch-domiciled multinational telecommunication services company. It predominantly operates services in the regions of Asia, Africa and Europe. It is the 13th largest mobile network operator in the world by number of subscribers. [3] The company operates in six markets including Bangladesh, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan, VEON announced the sale of its Russian operations on 24 November 2022. [4] VEON's brands include Kyivstar, Jazz Pakistan, Banglalink and others.
VEON is listed on Nasdaq in New York and Euronext in Amsterdam. The company has thousands of shareholders from around the world.
Russian PJSC VimpelCom was founded in 1992 in Moscow when VimpelCom's co-founders, Russian Dmitry Zimin [5] and American Augie K. Fabela II came together to pioneer a new direction in the Russian mobile industry - their company was one of the first mobile carriers in Russia. [6] Augie Fabela, who was then a young entrepreneur from the United States, and Zimin, who was a Russian scientist in his fifties, together launched the Beeline brand in 1993. Its name derives from Russian : вымпел, which translates as pennon.
VimpelCom Ltd. holding company was founded in 2009. In 2009, Telenor and Alfa agreed to merge their assets in VimpelCom and Kyivstar (Ukraine's number one wireless operator) with the aim of creating VimpelCom Ltd. (incorporated in Bermuda). [7]
In October 2010, the united company acquired from Naguib Sawiris two assets:[ citation needed ]
As of 31 December 2011, the company had 205 million customers across 20 countries. [8] After several divestments and a business transformation, by summer 2017, VEON had a combined subscriber base of more than 200 million across 12 markets. [9]
The company announced that it would switch the listing of its ADS shares from the NYSE to the NASDAQ with trading beginning on 10 September 2013. [10]
In February 2015, the government of Algeria acquired a 51% stake in Djezzy for US$2.6 billion. [11]
In September 2014, VimpelCom agreed to sell its majority stake in Canadian mobile operator Wind Mobile for $272 million to its minority owner Globalive. [12]
In summer 2015, the United States Justice Department claimed that VimpelCom used a network of shell companies and phony consulting contracts to funnel bribes to a close relative of the president of Uzbekistan, in exchange for access to that country's telecommunications market. [13] The board of one part-owner, Norwegian telecom operator Telenor, has severed consulting ties with its former chief executive Jon Fredrik Baksaas due to the continuing police investigation. [14]
In November 2015 the CEO, Jo Lunder was arrested on corruption charges in Oslo, Norway. The case alleges that in exchange for an operating license, VimpelCom has funneled $57.5M to Takilant, a company linked to Gulnara Karimova, the daughter of Uzbek President Islam Karimov. [15]
In February 2016, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced a global settlement along with the U.S. Department of Justice and Dutch regulators that requires telecommunications provider VimpelCom Ltd. to pay more than $795 million to resolve its violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) to win business in Uzbekistan. [16] [17]
In February 2017, VimpelCom renamed itself VEON, named after the messaging platform that it had developed. The company explained that the re-branding, under the guidance of Peter Arnell, was part of a shift towards marketing themselves as a technology company, and not solely a telecommunications firm. [18] [19] In April 2017, VEON announced the listing and trading of shares of VEON on Euronext Amsterdam. [20]
In July 2017, VEON announced launching Personal Internet Platform named VEON in major markets: Italy, Ukraine, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Georgia. The platform provides contextualized, personalized internet experiences and opportunities, enabling customers to call, chat, read, watch, listen and share media, manage account (top up, opt in/out services). [21]
In March 2018, CEO Jean-Yves Charlier resigned and CEO duties were temporarily assumed by VEON's chair, Ursula Burns. [22] Burns was appointed as CEO, while remaining as chairman, in December 2018. [23]
In October 2019, VEON hired former ex-Turkcell CEO Kaan Terzioğlu as COO of VEON Group, together with Sergi Herrero. [24]
In February 2020, Herrero and Terzioğlu were appointed co-CEOs, succeeding Burns. [25]
In June 2020, Gennady Gazin succeeded Burns as chairman. [26]
In June 2021, Kaan Terzioğlu was appointed as VEON Group Chief Executive Officer.
In June 2023, Morten Lundal was appointed as Chair of the VEON Board.
On 9th October 2023 VEON announced it had completed the sale of its Russian business. As a result of the sale, the board of VEON was reduced from 11 to 7 members. [27]
VEON will buy remaining 15% shares in Jazz from Abu Dhabi Group for 100pc ownership [28]
Veon Shareholder Structure: [29]
Telia Company AB is a Swedish multinational telecommunications company and mobile network operator present in Sweden, Finland, Norway, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
Alfa Group Consortium is Russian international privately owned investment groups, with interests in oil and gas, commercial and investment banking, asset management, insurance, retail trade, telecommunications, water utilities and special situation investments.
Beeline, formerly Bee Line GSM is a telecommunications brand by company PJSC VimpelCom, founded in Russia.
Kyivstar is a Ukrainian telecommunications company, providing communication services and data transmission based on a broad range of fixed and mobile technologies, including 4G (LTE) services, in Ukraine.
Global Telecom Holding S.A.E. is a holding company based in Amsterdam, and a subsidiary of the multinational telecommunications services company VEON. GTH previously owned mobile network operators in multiple countries.
Golden Telecom is an internet services provider in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). It was acquired by VimpelCom in 2007.
Mobilink was the trade name of Pakistan Mobile Communications Limited (PMCL), a mobile operator in Pakistan providing a range of prepaid and postpaid voice and data telecommunication services to both individual and corporate subscribers. In 2017, Warid Pakistan merged with Mobilink to form Jazz, under which the company now operates. Mobilink's head office was in Islamabad, and its last president and CEO was Aamir Ibrahim, who became the CEO of Jazz.
Altimo is the telecommunications investment arm of Russia's Alfa Group Consortium, controlled by Russian oligarch Mikhail Fridman. Altimo investee companies operate in Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Bangladesh, Georgia, Turkey; it holds stakes in VimpelCom, MegaFon, Kyivstar, and Turkcell. Together, Altimo's investee companies have more than 150 million mobile phone subscribers.. Altimo Holdings & Investments Ltd. is a British Virgin Islands company. A majority of its shares are owned by CTF Holdings, a Gibraltar limited liability company, whose sole shareholder is Crown Finance Foundation, a Liechtenstein foundation.
Telecom Armenia OJSC is an Armenian broadband and telecommunications company. Telecom Armenia, an integrated telecommunications services operator, is headquartered in Yerevan.
Wind Telecom S.p.A. was an Italian telecommunications holding company owned by the multinational telecommunications company VimpelCom Ltd., originally controlled by Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris.
Freedom Mobile, a Canadian wireless telecommunications provider owned by Québecor, holds a 6% market share of the Canadian wireless market, primarily concentrated in urban areas of Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta, and Manitoba. As the fourth-largest wireless carrier in Canada, Freedom Mobile serves 2,290,497 subscribers as of November 30, 2022. In addition to mobile phone plans, Freedom also offers home internet and TV services.
Khaled Bichara was an Egyptian businessman and entrepreneur who served as the chairman of link.net and chief executive officer of Accelero Capital. Prior to joining Accelero Capital, Bichara was chief executive officer of Orascom Telecom Media and Technology OTMT, group president and chief operating officer of VimpelCom Ltd., and executive chairman of Global Telecom Holding. Bichara played a pivotal role in the merger of VEON and Wind Telecom to create the world's sixth-largest telecommunications carrier.
Mobile phone industry in Russia is an trade industry of cell phone devices and mobile network services in Russia. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in the 1991 it had seen a great expansion over the last decades becoming one of the largest in the world. In terms of number of smartphone users, Russia is the 4th biggest smartphone market in the world sitting behind only China, India, and USA.
Ihor Volodymyrovych Lytovchenko is a founder and permanent head of the Kyivstar company since 1994. He is the chairman of the management board, and the head of business unit VimpelCom Ltd. For 15 years, Ihor Lytovchenko has been developing one of the most successful business projects in Ukraine. Under his command, Kyiv local cellular company has taken a leadership position in the national telecommunications market, providing services to 27 million subscribers around Ukraine.
PJSC VimpelCom is a Russian telecommunications company started in 1992 when its co-founders, Dr. Dmitry Zimin and Augie K. Fabela II came together to pioneer the Russian mobile industry. Augie Fabela, who was then a young entrepreneur from the US, and Dr. Zimin who was a Russian scientist in his 50s, together launched the Beeline brand.
Pakistan Mobile Communications Limited (PMCL), doing business as Jazz, (Urdu: جاز) is Pakistan's largest mobile network and internet services provider formed by the merger of Mobilink and Warid Pakistan.
Oleksandr Komarov is a Ukrainian telecommunications top-level manager, CEO of Kyivstar — No. 1 telecom operator in Ukraine with about 26 million subscribers.
The Service-Telecom Group of Companies is an independent wireless telecommunication infrastructure operator that constructs and leases antenna-mast structures (AMS) to place telecom equipment.
{{cite news}}
: |first=
has generic name (help)