OREANDA-NEWS. June 24, 2010. COMSTAR – United TeleSystems (COMSTAR-UTS, LSE: CMST), the leading provider of integrated telecom services in Russia and the CIS, announces that Regional Technical Center (RTC), a top alternative operator in the Siberian Region and a member of COMSTAR-UTS Group, has launched its large-scale project to construct FTTB (Fiber-to-the-Building) networks in three cities of its presence in Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area.

RTC started construction of communication networks in the cities of its presence in the Area, including Surgut, Nefteyugansk and Nizhnevartovsk in Q2 2010. During implementation of the construction project, housing estates and city infrastructure will be covered with fiber-optic networks based on FTTB technology that provides practically unlimited capacity. This technology enables not only to handle the growing traffic volumes, but to extend the range of telecom services depending on the user needs without any additional upgrading costs.

In June, RTC commissioned the first buildings included in the project implementation plan in Surgut and Surgut Region. At present, the communication network covering the first 22 apartment buildings in the 4th housing estate of Surgut has been put into commercial operation. Priobsky Branch of RTC connected 60 subscribers during the first week.

COMSTAR has become one of the first telecom operators that offered FTTB-enabled broadband and fixed voice services to Surgut residents. Further we plan to provide other high-tech services, including video telephony and digital TV.

Vladimir Alaev, Director of the Siberian Branch of COMSTAR-Regions and Director General of RTC, says: “FTTB network construction in the Area is the next stage of the data transmission network development program in the Siberian Region. Alongside with FTTB launching in Tobolsk, Novokuznetsk and Dudinka we have started construction in Surgut, Nefteyugansk and Nizhnevartovsk. The northern areas of our country have always needed high-quality communications both for industrial purposes (oil production and refining) and social development. Specific weather conditions, distance from the central part of Russia and highly scattered settlement areas are those factors that limit telecommunications development. By implementing new technologies in the construction we strive to speed up the process of northern territories coverage with high-quality communication services.”

Andrey Boyarinov, Commercial Director of RTC, notes: “Launching of FTTB in Siberian cities is of great importance both for the Company and its future customers. Now we can offer enhanced user experience to our customers. The new network features high reliability and capacity: we are able to speed up the data transmission and increase the number of services provided to our customers without any limits. Today we have introduced a special tariff for our pioneers – 22 apartment buildings in Surgut – called Simple Arithmetic. By choosing COMSTAR services under this tariff the residents will get up to 2 Mbps at a reasonable price.”