VEON Enhances Digital Marketing Offering with AdTech Business

VEON AdTech headquarters opens in Uzbekistan to support
VEON operators in addressing USD 1.3 billion market opportunity

Amsterdam, 26 April 2023 – VEON Ltd. (Nasdaq: VEON, Euronext Amsterdam: VEON), a global digital operator that provides converged connectivity and online services, has incorporated a dedicated adtech company, wholly owned by the VEON Group, to offer digital marketing services supporting VEON Group companies in addressing the growing digital advertising opportunity in VEON markets.

With its headquarters in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, VEON AdTech will work with VEON’s digital operators and support the VEON Group in providing highly targeted digital marketing services based on machine-learning algorithms, building on VEON companies’ proximity to their customers. The advertising spend on digital advertising in the countries where VEON operates is estimated to exceed USD 1.3 billion in 2023¹.

"The digital advertising market offers significant potential for our Group to build on the success of our digital operator strategy,” explains Kaan Terzioglu, CEO of VEON Group. "Each one of our companies already has a strong portfolio of customer-facing digital assets. With increasing capabilities in adtech, our digital operators can support the growth of the local economies in our markets, bringing together businesses and end-users in meaningful, targeted ways.”

VEON AdTech will employ a dedicated technology team, which will provide a central software development role supporting VEON Group companies and manage VEON’s core AdTech intellectual property portfolio. The choice of Uzbekistan as VEON AdTech’s headquarters reflects the progress of the country in developing a technology-based economy as part of its Digital Uzbekistan 2030 vision, and will further help to develop programming and data skills within the country.

"Uzbekistan is rapidly becoming an advanced digital economy and a tech hub for Central Asia,” says Andrzej Malinowski, CEO of Beeline Uzbekistan. "Over the course of the past two years, Beeline Uzbekistan supported this transformation with its customer-facing digital services, the growth of BeeLab, university partnerships, hackathons and upskilling programs. We are thrilled to welcome VEON AdTech in Uzbekistan, which will both benefit from the technology skills here, and support the further development of a wider, highly skilled digital workforce.”

Since 2022, the VEON Group’s digital operators have accelerated their digital advertising capabilities, partnering with both local and leading international brands. "The formation of a dedicated business division will further boost the deployment of VEON Group’s adtech capabilities and the creation of new services,” states George Held, General Manager of VEON AdTech. "In 2022, our digital operators across the Group have demonstrated their capability to serve leading global and local brands with digital advertising, building on the robust architecture and audience potential of our digital assets. Given the direct relationship we have with our customers, we are perfectly positioned to help advertisers, big and small, reach their target markets and support the growth of local economies in doing so.”

VEON AdTech’s digital marketing services will be built on VEON’s MobileID technology that provides enhanced privacy and security to consumers. The developments by the company will ensure that consumers remain protected via straightforward permission-based controls to opt out of data tracking and stop unwanted ads.  All advertising campaign data will be processed within each operating country to enhance consumer protection and also to develop the local data skills and digital expertise.

About VEON
VEON is a global digital operator that currently provides converged connectivity and online services to nearly 160 million customers in six dynamic markets. We are transforming people’s lives, empowering individuals, creating opportunities for greater digital inclusion and driving economic growth across countries that are home to more than 8% of the world’s population. Headquartered in Amsterdam, VEON is listed on Nasdaq and Euronext. For more information visit: https://www.veon.com.

Disclaimer
This release contains "forward-looking statements,” as the phrase is defined in Section 27A of the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Forward-looking statements are not historical facts, and include statements relating to, among other things, VEON’s digital marketing initiatives. Forward-looking statements are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties, many of which VEON cannot predict with accuracy and some of which VEON might not even anticipate. The forward-looking statements contained in this release speak only as of the date of this release. VEON does not undertake to publicly update, except as required by U.S. federal securities laws, any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances after such dates or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. There can be no assurance that the initiatives referred to above will be successful.

Contact information
VEON
Senior Communications Manager
Anna Ivanova-Galitsina
pr@veon.com

TUVA Partners
Managing Partner
Julian Tanner
Julian.tanner@tuvapartners.com

¹ According to latest available market estimates on Statista, the combined volume of ad spending in digital advertising in Bangladesh, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Pakistan is projected to reach USD 1.3 billion; with Ukraine estimated to have a further USD 443 million potential.