On 21st June 2006 the international rating agency Fitch Ratings assigned to OJSC North-West Telecom the A (rus) national priority unsecured rating with the Stable Forecast.

Besides, Fitch Ratings assigned  the A(rus) ratings to issued bonds of OJSC North-West Telecom: to the second issue of bonds worth of 1.5 billion roubles to be retired in October 2007 and to the third issue of bonds worth of 3 billion roubles to be retired in February 2011.

The ratings reflect the opinion of Fitch Ratings' experts that North-West Telecom has:

- good positions for maintaining the dominating standing in the market as a regional traditional communications operator;

- one of the most efficient operating activities among Russia's communications operators, which makes it possible to save on expenses and to maintain profitability.

Fitch Ratings' analysts note: "The score assigned  by Fitch Ratings to North-West Telecom takes into account moderate relative ratios of the company's debt. E.g., late in 2004, the net debt to EBITDA was 1.7x, while the ratio of net debt to funds from operating activities was 2.4x. Such relative debt indices are the lowest among traditional communications operators in Russia.

Commenting on this event, Venera Khusnutdinova, Chief financial officer, noted: 'Only two companies in Russia were assigned the A (rus) rating with the Stable forecast, and one of them is North-West Telecom. The fact that such a high credit rating has been assigned is a recognition of the positive results of work done by the Company to improve its efficiency, especially in the framework of pursuing a well-balanced debt policy. Besides, this proves once again the excellent credit quality of NWT and improves the attractiveness of the Company for all participants of the financial market'.