DUSHANBE, February 3, Asia-Plus — On Friday February 2, cellular operator Beeline claimed its 100,000th client in Tajikistan.
The Beeline brand was introduced in Tajikistan in September 2006 and since that time, the number of clients of Beeline in Tajikistan has increased seven times, from 14,473 to 100,000, Andrey Adayev, technical director of the limited liability company Tacom, remarked at briefing in Dushanbe on February 2. .
According to him, more than 27,000 people in Tajikistan became clients of Beeline in January alone. “The company now accounts for more than 9 percent of Tajikistan’s market of cellular communications services in numbers of clients.”
Limited liability company Tacom is an affiliate of Russia’s second-largest cellular operator VimpelCom, which is best known for its Beeline brand. We will recall that Vimpel-Communications (VimpelCom) in December 2005 announced the purchase of a 60% stake in Tajik cellular operator “Tacom” for $12 million. Tacom is licensed to provide cellular communication services in Tajikistan in the GSM-900/1800, UMTS, CDMA-450, and AMPS standards.
Adayev noted that over the past five months, Beeline has become one of Tajikistan’s largest cellular operators. In addition to Dushanbe, Beeline has provided coverage to many other areas of Tajikistan. In January alone, the company expanded its operations into the districts of Rudaki, Shahrinav, Buston, Ghafurov as well as the highway from Dushanbe to Qurghon Teppa, the capital of the Khatlon province.
“In Tajikistan, VimpelCom will introduce the latest technologies and equipment, which have not been yet operated even in Russia and other countries where the VimpelCom Group companies operate,” Adayev stressed.
The VimpelCom Group includes cellular companies operating in Russia and Kazakhstan with recently acquired cellular operators in Tajikistan, Georgia, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. The Company operates under the ‘Beeline’ brand. In addition, VimpelCom is continuing to use ‘K-mobile’ and ‘EXCESS’ brands in Kazakhstan. The VimpelCom Group’s cellular license portfolio covers 78 regions of Russia and the entire territory of Georgia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.
According to the Ministry of Transport and Communications (MoTC), the number of users of mobile communications in Tajikistan last year increased by 300,000, bringing a total number of users to 780,000. Eleven mobile providers now function in Tajikistan, providing services in different standards: MLT; Babilon-Mobile; Indigo-Tajikistan; Indigo-Somoncom; Beeline; M-Teco; Telecom Inc (Skytel), TK-Mobile, Tajik Telecom, and Telecom Technology Ltd.
