Beeline (brand)
| Product type | Mobile telephony, mobile phones retailing, international telephony, broadband Internet, IPTV, city-wide Wi-Fi, domain name registrar and others |
|---|---|
| Owner | PJSC VimpelCom and Veon |
| Introduced | 1993 |
| Related brands | Bee+, Golden Telecom, Corbina |
| Markets | Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan |
| Website | beeline beeline beeline beeline |
Beeline (Russian: Билайн) is a mobile network operator brand operating in Russia under PJSC VimpelCom, and in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan under VEON Ltd. Beeline is Russia's fourth-largest mobile network operator, and main competitors being MTS, MegaFon and T2.
Since 2009, PJSC VimpelCom had been a subsidiary of the Amsterdam based VimpelCom Ltd, which became VEON in 2017. On 9 October 2023, VEON sold Beeline in Russia and completed its exit from Russia, leaving the brand "Beeline" owned by PJSC VimpelCom in Russia and by VEON Ltd. in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan.
The commercial service was launched under the Beeline brand, a brand developed by Fabela in late 1993 to differentiate the company as a youthful and fun company, rather than a technical company. The name comes from the English term "beeline", meaning the most direct way between two points. VimpelCom relaunched Beeline with the current characteristic black-and-yellow striped circle in 2005 with a campaign to associate the brand with the principles of brightness, friendliness, effectiveness, simplicity, and positive emotions; with a new slogan "Живи на яркой стороне" (Live on the vibrant side). The rebranding campaign was hugely successful and the principles associated with the brand "captured hearts and minds", in the words of the company.