Alexander Izosimov said the company's board of directors will also consider its dividends policy, which is one of the means, along with the redemption of stock, to return income to shareholders. The company has not paid dividends until now.
Earlier in the month, MTS [RTS: MTSS], Russia's No. 1 mobile operator and VimpelCom's main competitor on the market, announced its program to buy back its American Depositary Receipts (ADR), in line with which the company plans to buy not more than 10% of its shares.
VimpelCom operates in 78 regions in Russia under the Beeline trademark, and also in the former Soviet republics of Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Georgia.
VimpelCom is listed on the Russian Industrial Leaders Index (RUXX) - a composite economic index of 20 Russian companies with financial instruments (shares and depository receipts) placed on bourses, including the New York Stock Exchange, the London Stock Exchange, Nasdaq and AMEX.
