EBITDA (Earnings before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization) in Uzbekistan grew by 40.47% year-on-year from US$27 million to US$38 million in the first quarter of 2012. EBITDA margin rose by 3.7 percentage points to 44.6% in the reporting period.

The volume of capital investments exceeded US$38 million in the first three months of 2012 compared to US$40 million in the same period of 2011.

Number of mobile communication subscribers of Beeline in Uzbekistan reached 7.344 million at the end of the first quarter of 2012, which grew by 43.4% year-on-year. Subscribers’ base rose by 1 million or 15.5% compared to the beginning of 2012.

ARPU (Monthly Average Revenue per User) made up US$3.5 in the first quarter of 2012 compared to US$3.8 in the first three months of 2011 (-8%).

MOU (Monthly Average Minutes of Use per User) fell by 4% from 391 minutes in the first quarter of 2011 to 376 minutes in the first quarter of 2012.

Andrei Safronyuk, director general of Unitel, Vimpelcom’s subsidiary in Uzbekistan, said that the company continued to expand its network, including GSM and 3G, as well as fiber optic lines.