Pursuant to the terms of the Merger approved by VimpelCom's shareholders in October 2003, Alfa Group and Telenor received, respectively, 7,300,680 and 3,648,141 newly-issued common shares of VimpelCom in exchange for their shares in VimpelCom-Region. Following the completion of the Merger, Telenor owns approximately 26.6% of VimpelCom voting stock and 29.9% of VimpelCom common stock, and Alfa Group owns approximately 32.9% of VimpelCom voting stock and 24.5% of VimpelCom common stock.

Following discussions with officials at the Ministry of Information Technology and Communications of the Russian Federation (the "Ministry") and at the licensing body, the Federal Service for Surveillance in the Field of Telecommunications (the "Service"), on November 29, 2004 the Company filed applications for the re-issuance of VimpelCom-Region's licenses and permits for the use of radio frequencies to VimpelCom. Based upon the clarifications of the Ministry, the licenses should be re-issued within 30 days from the date of the applications.

VimpelCom-Region held licenses are to be re-issued to the Company for the Central, Siberian, Volga, South and North-West consolidated regions of Russia.

VimpelCom is a leading international provider of telecommunications services, operating under the "Bee Line GSM" brand in Russia and "K-mobile" and "EXCESS" brands in Kazakhstan. The VimpelCom Group's license portfolio covers approximately 94% of Russia's population (136 million people), including the City of Moscow, the Moscow Region and the City of St. Petersburg, as well as the entire territory of Kazakhstan. VimpelCom was the first Russian company to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange ("NYSE"). VimpelCom's shares are listed on the NYSE under the symbol "VIP".

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