DUSHANBE, January 20, 2009, Asia-Plus  -- Mobile communications operator, Ukrainian Radio Systems, which operates under the ‘Beeline’ brand, has launched the GPRS roaming service in the territory of Tajikistan, according to press service of this company.

GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) is a packet oriented Mobile Data Service Communications available to users of the 2G cellular communications systems Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), as well as in the 3G systems.  In the 2G systems, GPRS provides data rates from 56 up to 114 kbit/s.  GPRS data transfer is typically charged per megabyte of traffic transferred, while data communication via traditional circuit switching is billed per minute of connection time, independent of whether the user actually is using the capacity or is in an idle state. GPRS is a best-effort packet switched service, as opposed to circuit switching, where a certain Quality of Service (QoS) is guaranteed during the connection for non-mobile users.

GPRS roaming is a basic requirement for making future global mobile Internet services possible for GPRS subscribers in other operators'' GPRS networks

We will recall that on December 27, 2005, VimpelCom (Vimpel-Communications) announced the purchase of a 60% stake in Tajik cellular operator “Tacom” for $12 million.  Tacom is licensed to provide cellular communication services in Tajikistan in the GSM-900/1800, UMTS, CDMA-450, and AMPS standards.

The VimpelCom Group includes cellular companies operating in Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, and recently acquired companies in Georgia and Armenia. The Company operates under the ''Beeline'' brand.  The VimpelCom Group’s cellular license portfolio covers 78 regions of Russia and the entire territories of Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Georgia and Armenia.