State President Nguyen Minh Triet received leaders and shareholders of the GTel Mobile Joint Stock Company (GTel Mobile) upon the debut of its Beeline network on July 20.

Gtel Mobile is a joint venture between the Global Telecommunication Corporation under the Ministry of Public Security and VimpelCom, Russia ’s second largest mobile phone operator, through the latter’s international brand name Beeline.

President Triet praised GTel Mobile’s efforts to quickly deploy the project, saying that it reflects the two countries’ resolve to beef up economic cooperation.

He spoke highly of the role of the joint venture, describing it as another important project in Vietnam-Russia economic cooperation, along with the Vietsovpetro oil and gas joint venture.

The State leader expressed his hope that with the traditional relationship between Vietnam and former Soviet Union, now the Russian Federation , more Russian groups would invest in Vietnam in the years to come.

Earlier in the day, GTel Mobile officially launched its Beeline network in the capital city of Hanoi , with the prefix number of 0199, becoming the 7th mobile service provider in the country.

In the initial stage, Beeline service will be available in eight major cities and provinces of Vietnam , including Hanoi, Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City . Its coverage is expected to expand to 44-46 localities by the year’s end.

The first product under the Beeline brand in Vietnam is the Big Zero plan with an attractive price for on-net and off-net calls and an affordable SMS-service.

With 60 percent of the stake held by the Vietnamese partner and the rest belonging to Vimpelcom, Gtel Mobile has been licensed to build, develop and exploit the mobile telecom market and value-added tax services using the Global System for Mobile Communications (GMS) technology.