Farimex attacks Telenor also in Ukraine

OSLO, NORWAY, May 18 (MARKET WIRE) --
(Fornebu, Norway, Kyiv, Ukraine, - 18 May 2009) Farimex, reputed from
attacking Telenor's investments in the Russian mobile operator VimpelCom,
is also behind an investigation launched by the Anti-Monopoly Committee
of Ukraine (AMC) against Telenor and Kyivstar. Telenor was officially
notified of the commenced investigation on 7 May this year. Farimex
Products is registered on the British Virgin Islands and claims to hold
ADRs representing a 0.002 per cent stake in VimpelCom.

"Telenor is a
strong defender of competition and believes the AMC has been sadly misled
by Farimex," said Jan Edvard Thygesen, EVP and Head of Telenor's
operations in Central and Eastern Europe. Farimex claims that Telenor,
Kyivstar and Storm are in breach of Ukrainian Competition legislation by
including a non-participation clause in the Shareholders agreement and
that Telenor hindered competition in Ukraine through delaying VimpelCom's
acquisition of Ukrainian Radio Systems (URS).

Promoting competition

"Non-participation clauses are normally included in agreements between
partners world-wide, so too between the Kyivstar shareholders in the
agreement signed in 2004. This was done in order to promote fair
competition and avoid monopolisation of the market. The agreement
restricts each party from holding more than five per cent in competing
businesses in Ukraine without the other party's consent. It regulates
affairs between two shareholders, and in fact opens up for more actors in
the market, rather than restricts competition," said Trond Moe, Country
Manager of Telenor Group Ukraine.

The URS transaction

"Telenor has always supported VimpelCom's international expansion, also
to Ukraine, on terms favourable to VimpelCom and its shareholders" said
Trond Moe. "Our major reason to go against the acquisition of URS in 2005
was to prevent VimpelCom from losing money through an overpriced and
non-transparent acquisition. Unfortunately we have been proven right in
our assumptions that the company would require huge investments to cope
with an already maturing Ukrainian market. At present Beeline continues
to show little growth in Ukraine, having a market share of only 3.4 per
cent and just over two million subscribers despite additional investments
by VimpelCom of more than 600 million USD so far."

URS was acquired by VimpelCom in 2005 at a price of 231 million USD after
having been unsuccessfully offered to Golden Telecom at a price of 100
million USD at an earlier stage. In the Board of Directors of VimpelCom,
Telenor-appointed board members argued against the acquisition for three
reasons; a too high price, unidentified sellers and non-credible business
plans presented for URS development.

"Telenor, as one of the world's largest operators, is always guided by
good business logics and high ethical standards. That is why Telenor did
its best to prevent VimpelCom and its shareholders from loosing money in
Ukraine. We are confident the AMC will consider this and discard the
unfounded accusations set forth by Farimex," said Mr. Thygesen

Background

Last summer Farimex initiated a court proceeding against Telenor,
VimpelCom and Altimo in a distant court of Khanty-Mansiysk in Western
Siberia, Russian Federation. Farimex accused the three companies of
having caused losses to VimpelCom by delaying VimpelCom's acquisition of
URS. The Khanty-Mansiysk court held Telenor solely liable for VimpelCom's
alleged late entry into the Ukrainian mobile market and ordered Telenor
to pay VimpelCom USD 2.8 billion in damages.

This decision was cancelled by the Omsk court on 29 December 2008.
However, on 20 February 2009 the court ruled to hold Telenor liable for
USD1.7 billion. The court gave Farimex a writ of execution to claim the
amount that resulted in arrest of all Telenor shares in VimpelCom on 11
March 2009. Telenor has appealed the decision of the Omsk court and the
appeal will be heard in Tyumen in Western Siberia on 26 May 2009.

Contact persons:
Dag Melgaard, Communication Manager, Telenor ASA
tel: +47 901 92 000, e-mail: dag.melgaard@telenor.com

Anastasiya Gogoleva, Communication Director, Telenor Group in Ukraine
tel: +38 067 467 6666, e-mail: anastasiya.gogoleva@telenor.com

Anna Ivanova-Galitsina, PR and Communications Director, Telenor
Russia
Tel: +7 495 937 9588
E-mail: anna.galitsina@telenor.com

To editors:
See also Telenor's special web-pages "Defending investments in Russia
and Ukraine":
http://telenor.com/en/news-and-media/in-focus/ownership-interests-in-russia/

This announcement was originally distributed by Hugin. The issuer is
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