OREANDA-NEWS. Rostelecom OJSC (MOEX: RTKM, RTKMP; OTCQX: ROSYY), Russia's national telecommunications operator, today announces that it has launched the beta version of its search engine, Sputnik, at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum.

The Sputnik search engine focuses on socially important internet services. It is designed to help Russian families who use the Internet to help them with everyday tasks, but who are also increasingly interacting with public services and social institutions online. Sputnik has analysed more than 10 billion RuNet pages, selecting the most authentic, complete and official sources of information.

Sergey Kalugin, President of Rostelecom, commented: “In accordance with our strategy, we are entering the growing internet market, which is an attractive area for all the major players in the telecom industry. Sputnik's task is to become a popular platform for finding socially important information online, therefore helping to improve people's quality of life. This is a powerful new channel through which Rostelecom is looking to engage with its consumers.”

Alexey Basov, Vice President of Rostelecom and Chairman of the Board of Sputnik, also commented: “The way users are using the internet is constantly evolving and usage is growing as new types of customers are coming online. Rostelecom has all the resources necessary to develop mass internet services to help people solve everyday problems and to create opportunities for them to interact with state and public institutions. Our task is to lead in this area and develop the most up-to-date and relevant services for the Russian population.”