EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Yogesh Malik said Russia’s economic difficulties forced the country’s operators to intensify their efforts at network sharing, and that VimpelCom now wants to replicate the same thinking across the group.

VimpelCom struck 4G networking sharing deals with two domestic rivals, MTS and MegaFon. Part of the reason for the agreements, signed at the end of 2014 and early in 2016 respectively, was a national financial crisis, the executive said.

Such macro economic challenges hit a country’s leading companies, and operators are no exception.

“We have to understand the Russian economy really tumbled…When desperate times come, people start to collaborate.”

But, Malik explains, network partnerships require time and effort by all the participants. Clearly though VimpelCom, and Malik, feel they are worth pursuing at a group level.

“Russia has been leading the way but we are copying that same thing across all geographies now.”

Watch the full video here.