The agreement includes GSM expansions in five out of six licensed regions in Russia covered by VimpelCom's network. The agreement includes switching and radio equipment, as well as telecom services, including equipment installation and integration, mobile network planning and optimization and maintenance support. With the expansion, VimpelCom's customers will be able to use the latest technologies within GPRS and EDGE, when EDGE is being certified in the Russian market.

"This agreement with Ericsson is yet another confirmation of Ericsson's ability to deliver top class equipment on time which is a crucial criteria when selecting supplier in view of current dynamic growth of so called Bee Line GSM network," said Sergey Avdeev, CTO and vice president, network development, VimpelCom. "Traditionally, we entrust Ericsson to perform full-scale operations under the contract: from equipment delivery to network roll-out and optimization, being confident that we get the best result.  Our partnership with Ericsson will allow us to increase the quality of service toward our existing subscribers, as well as create new networks in Russian cities."

"Dynamic growth of GSM subscriber base is a consequence of high quality services rendered to its subscribers," said Zoran Lukovic, vice president of Ericsson Eastern Europe and Central Asia. "We at Ericsson will do everything we can to facilitate prompt fulfillment of VimpelCom subscriber's needs by utilizing our most advanced equipment and experience accumulated by our specialists in 140 countries worldwide."