MINISTER CONFIRMS ARMENIAN GOVT MAY SELL ARMENTEL STAKE TO VIMPELCOM

Prime-Tass Business News Agency, Russia
November 8, 2006 Wednesday

The Armenian government is ready to sell its 10% stake in ArmenTel,
the incumbent telecoms operator in Armenia, to Russia’s second largest
mobile operator VimpelCom, Transportation and Communications Minister
Andranik Manukyan said, ITAR-TASS reported Wednesday.

The government may sell its stake to VimpelCom if the Russian operator
agrees to give up ArmenTel’s current monopoly status on the fixed-line
market, the minister said without providing any price estimates for
the stake.

On November 3, VimpelCom said that it had signed an agreement
to acquire a 90% stake in ArmenTel from Greece’s Hellenic
Telecommunications Organization SA (OTE) for 341.9 million euros plus
assuming ArmenTel’s debt of about 40 million euros.

The Armenian government holds the remaining 10% stake in ArmenTel.

ArmenTel is a fixed-line and mobile operator in Armenia with licenses
in the GSM 900 and CDMA standards. ArmenTel’s subscriber base
includes approximately 600,000 fixed-line subscribers and 400,000
GSM subscribers.

Armenia’s population is about 3.2 million people.

VimpelCom operates in Russia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Ukraine and
Uzbekistan and plans to launch services in Georgia soon.