OREANDA-NEWS. On 22 April 2009 was announced, that Fitch Ratings affirmed Sibirtelecom's (Sibir) Long-term Issuer Default rating (IDR) at 'B+' and Short-term IDR at 'B'. The Outlook on the Long-term IDR is Stable.

Fitch believes that Sibir's revenue should remain resilient in the prevailing economic downturn, supported by broadband and mobile revenue growth as well as local voice segment tariff indexation.

Sibir has significant room to improve free cash flow generation cutting capex considerably, therefore releasing cash for debt repayments.

The ratings take into consideration the ownership-driven relationships of Sibir's main shareholder, state-controlled Svyazinvest, with state banks. Fitch believes these relationships should aid Svyazinvest's 2008-2009 refinancing negotiations to the benefit of Sibir.