Vimpelcom ‘reinventing’ itself as Internet player

Vimpelcom is undertaking the telecom industry's most radical overhaul to date, weaning itself from declining revenues from voice and data to focus instead on mobile Internet services such as banking, taxis and messaging, its executives said.
The reinvention by one of the world's top ten mobile operators is the clearest example yet of a major telecom company deciding to join the tech sector rather than trying to beat it and may put pressure on others to follow.
It will mean a shift for Vimpelcom from selling data and voice calls to offering a single, app-based platform where users can communicate for free. Vimpelcom plans to revenue share through partnerships with recognized Internet names, such as Uber. The Amsterdam-based company with Russian roots is eliminating layers of management and revamping its networks to cut costs and invest in creating new services, Vimpelcom Chief Executive Jean-Yves Charlier told Reuters in an interview.
In addition to banking and messaging apps, Charlier said Vimpelcom wants to mine client data to target new services, such as offering a customer a taxi booking on a busy Friday night, based on anticipating how busy a neighborhood is and knowing where potential customers are located.

Source: Arab News