Golden Telecom is an internet services provider in Russia and the

Commonwealth of Independent States The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is a regional organization, regional intergovernmental organization in Eurasia. It was formed following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. It covers an ar ...

(CIS). It was acquired by VimpelCom in 2007.

History

Founded in 1996 by the global corporation Global Telesystems ("GTS"). NYSE-listed Global TeleSystems ("GTS") was the owner of

EBONE EBONE (standing for European Backbone) was a pan-European Internet backbone. It went online in 1992 and was deactivated in July 2002. Some portions of the Ebone were sold to other companies and continue to operate today. History Formation In 1991 ...

one of Europe's leading broadband optical and

IP network The Internet protocol suite, commonly known as TCP/IP, is a framework for organizing the communication protocols used in the Internet and similar computer networks according to functional criteria. The foundational protocols in the suite are ...

service providers (a

Tier 1 network A Tier 1 network is an Internet Protocol (IP) network that can reach every other network on the Internet solely via settlement-free interconnection (also known as settlement-free peering). Tier 1 networks can exchange traffic with other Tier 1 net ...

). GTS had its IPO on the

NASDAQ The Nasdaq Stock Market (; National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the U.S. by volume, and ranked second on the list ...

in 1998. In 2000, a new management including Robert A. Schriesheim as CFO, was brought in to help restructure and refocus the company. GTS was a pan-European communications services provider, backed by Alan B. Slifka and affiliates of

George Soros George Soros (born György Schwartz; August 12, 1930) is an American investor and philanthropist. , he has a net worth of US$7.2 billion, Note that this site is updated daily. having donated more than $32 billion to the Open Society Foundat ...

and Soros Private Equity, with revenues of over $1 billion and operations in 20 countries in Europe. In October 1999 GTS did an IPO of on the

of, Golden Telecom, which held communications assets in Russia, with GTS retaining a 65% interest. GTS was essentially a portfolio of communications assets in Western and Eastern Europe which went through an IPO in 1998, and subsequently experienced challenges with an over-levered balance sheet as Europe went through deregulation and from the overall fall-out of the dot.com boom and bust which impacted its customer base. In 2001, to facilitate the sale of GTS, Mr. Schriesheim helped lead it through a pre-arranged filing under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code (U.S.B.C.) and, in prearranged proceedings, a petition for surseance (moratorium), offering a composition, in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

to restructure its debt, in excess of $2 billion. All such proceedings were approved, confirmed and completed by March 31, 2002, as part of the sale of the company. David A. Stewart served as Senior Vice President, chief financial officer and Treasurer at that time and left Golden Telecom in 2004. Golden Telecom was acquired by VimpelCom in 2007.

List of acquisitions by Golden Telecom

* July 2000 — IT Infoart Stars * July 2000 — search engine aport.ru * April 2001 – internet service providers Cityline and Uralrelcom * March 2002 – EDN Sovintel, LCC Golden Telecom is a brand of EDN Sovintel, LLC. Golden Telecom built its own Federal Transit Network (FTN) in Russia. At present, the operator has fibre-optical highways Moscow-

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

and Moscow-

Nizhni Novgorod Nizhny Novgorod ( ; rus, links=no, Нижний Новгород, a=Ru-Nizhny Novgorod.ogg, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj ˈnovɡərət, t=Lower Newtown; colloquially shortened to Nizhny) is a city and the administrative centre of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast an ...

. On March 17, 2006, the operator declared that it put into operation the fibre-optical highway Moscow-Nizhni Novgorod. The distance of the line is . The construction of the optical highway Moscow-Nizhni Novgorod was carried out together with

Open Society Open society () is a term coined by French-Jewish philosopher Henri Bergson in 1932, and describes a dynamic system inclined to moral universalism.Thomas Mautner (2005), 2nd ed. ''The Penguin Dictionary of Philosophy'' Open society" entry p. ...

VimpelCom. Both companies have invested nine million dollars in the construction. Since March 2006 Golden Telecom has been building a fibre-optical highway Nizhni Novgorod-

Kazan Kazan; , IPA: Help:IPA/Tatar, ɑzanis the largest city and capital city, capital of Tatarstan, Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka (river), Kazanka Rivers, covering an area of , with a population of over 1. ...

- Ufa, with planned operation start in the end of 2006. Company was building the largest European

Wi-Fi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for Wireless LAN, local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by ...

network in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

, over 5.000 WAPs, made by

Nortel Nortel Networks Corporation (Nortel), formerly Northern Telecom Limited, was a Canadian Multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications and data networking equipment manufacturer headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario. It was founded in ...

, are installed by the end of 2006. In 2007 the company was planning to begin construction of a fibre-optical highway Kazan-

Naberezhnye Chelny Naberezhnye Chelny (, ; , ) is the second largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city in the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia. A major industrial center, Naberezhnye Chelny stands on the Kama River east of Kazan near Nizhnekamsk Reservoi ...

- Perm-

Yekaterinburg Yekaterinburg (, ; ), alternatively Romanization of Russian, romanized as Ekaterinburg and formerly known as Sverdlovsk ( ; 1924–1991), is a city and the administrative centre of Sverdlovsk Oblast and the Ural Federal District, Russia. The ci ...

and complete the construction of line Ufa-

Samara Samara, formerly known as Kuybyshev (1935–1991), is the largest city and administrative centre of Samara Oblast in Russia. The city is located at the confluence of the Volga and the Samara (Volga), Samara rivers, with a population of over 1.14 ...

Saratov Saratov ( , ; , ) is the largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and administrative center of Saratov Oblast, Russia, and a major port on the Volga River. Saratov had a population of 901,361, making it the List of cities and tow ...

Golden Telecom LLC (Ukraine)

Golden Telecom LLC is the smallest GSM operator in Ukraine, although it started early by launching its GSM-1800 operation back in 1996. Its

wireless network A wireless network is a computer network that uses wireless data connections between network nodes. Wireless networking allows homes, telecommunications networks, and business installations to avoid the costly process of introducing cables int ...

covers just two metropolitan areas:

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

and

Odesa Odesa, also spelled Odessa, is the third most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern ...

, lacking the national coverage of its competitors. In the early 2000s new owners (controlled by the Russian

Alfa Group Alfa Group Consortium () is a Russian international privately owned investment groups, with interests in oil and gas, commercial and investment banking, asset management, insurance, retail trade, telecommunications, water utilities and special ...

) shifted company's strategy, which since then has focused on providing integrated telecommunications services for businesses and other high-usage customers and telecommunications operators. The current number of Golden Telecom's GSM postpaid and prepaid subscribers is just below 50,000 (June 2007). The outlook of its GSM business is quite grim in the wake of huge success and growth of traditional (

Kyivstar Kyivstar () is a Ukrainian telecommunications company, providing communication services and data transmission based on a broad range of fixed and mobile technologies, including 4G (LTE) services, in Ukraine. The Kyivstar mobile network covers a ...

, UMC) and emerging ( Astelit) competitors. Even its earlier competitive advantage, absence of the connection fee (a small flat fee, usually $0.05–$0.06, charged by Kyivstar and UMC per connection in addition to per minute rate), is not a factor anymore as new competitors ( Astelit, Beeline) do not charge connection fees as well. To cope with its limited GSM coverage, the company has recently concluded an agreement with Beeline, another trailing local mobile operator, which allows Golden Telecom's contract subscribers to roam onto Beeline's growing cellular network throughout Ukraine. This is the first national roaming agreement between mobile operators in Ukraine. Golden Telecom LLC Ukraine is a division of Golden Telecom Inc. (

: GLDN), which also operates a telecom business in Russia.

Former CEO

* Stewart P. Reich

References

{{Telenor Telecommunications companies of Russia Internet service providers of Russia Internet in Ukraine Streaming television Mobile phone companies of Russia Mobile phone companies of Ukraine Telecommunications companies of Ukraine Commonwealth of Independent States Telecommunications companies established in 1996 1996 establishments in Russia PJSC VimpelCom Russian brands VEON