VimpelCom Ltd, a global provider of telecommunications services, has announced that it has signed an agreement to sell its interest in Vietnamese joint venture.

As part of the pact, VimpelCom would sell the company's entire indirect 49 percent stake in GTEL Mobile Joint Stock Company in Vietnam to GTEL Transmit and Infrastructure Service One Member Company Limited, a related party of the company's Vietnamese local partner, Global Telecommunications Corporation, and give up operational control of GTEL Mobile.

Under the terms of the agreement, the Purchaser will pay a cash consideration of US$45 million upon satisfaction of usual conditions precedent.

GTEL Mobile will discontinue the use of the Beeline trademark after a six-month transition period.

“We have previously outlined our Value Agenda, within which all of our operations are reviewed to assess their future value to the Group,” said Jo Lunder, chief executive officer of VimpelCom, in a statement.

Lunder said that the decision to dispose of the interest in GTEL Mobile is a result of this process, which focuses on allocating capital to those markets where the company sees the best opportunities to generate shareholder value.

Back in October, VimpelCom Ltd announced that its fully owned subsidiary in Italy, Wind Telecomunicazioni S.p.A., has successfully bid for and been awarded spectrum in the 800MHz and 2600MHz frequencies following the completion of the competitive spectrum auction initiated by the Italian government.

In detail WIND has been awarded two blocks FDD (5+5 MHZ paired each) of spectrum in the 800MHz frequency range and four FDD (5+5 MHz paired) blocks in the 2,600MHz frequency range.

The spectrum awarded to WIND will enable the company to successfully deploy and launch LTE (News - Alert)/4G telecommunication services in the coming years. The combination of the acquired 800 MHz and 2,600 MHz blocks will allow Wind to exploit the LTE technology to the maximum performance as well as provide the service with high quality indoor coverage.

The 2,600MHz spectrum will be available immediately whereas the 800MHz spectrum will be available for use by the awardees at the beginning of 2013 and both will have validity until 2029.