Russia's Vimpel Communications is making a push into the Vietnamese mobile phone market.

The company's chief executive officer, Alexander Izosimov, said his company will put $267 million into the Vietnamese mobile telephone joint venture GTEL-Mobile.

According to a company press release, VimpelCom will hold a 40 per cent stake, while Global Telecommunications Corporation, a Vietnamese state-owned enterprise, will hold just over half. Izosimov said that with a population of 86 million and a fast growing economy, the Vietnamese market holds great promise.

It is the company's first push outside its traditional stomping ground of former communist countries including Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Georgia and Armenia. X