On 23 May in course of his official visit, V.A. Akulich, CEO of JSC North-West Telecom, met A.D.Ruzakin, deputy governor of the Murmansk region, for working meeting. The topics discussed at the meeting included the interaction between the Government of the Murmansk region and the JSC North-West Telecom in issues of informatization and development of telecommunications in the region. The participants discussed the results of the “Agreement of Cooperation between the Government of the Murmansk Region and JSC North-West Telecom” signed in November, 2004.

In 2005 the capital investments of the JSC NWT into development of communications in the Murmansk region amounted to RUR 217.89 million with 15.5 thousands phone numbers put in operation. The installed capacity of MSS was significantly expanded. The number of Internet users with dial-up access including ADSL reached 60 thousands.

Talking about the future plans, V.A. Akulich said that in 2006 North-West Telecom is planning invest more than RUR 110 million into development of communications at Kola peninsula, first of all into construction of new access nodes and expansions of the existing NGN network of the Murmansk branch. This will make it possible to improve the quality of such modern communication services as high-speed internet access and organization of virtual private networks for individual and corporate users. A digital phone exchange is scheduled for launch in Nikel in 4Q.

The participants noted that currently the North-West Telecom pays a lot of attention to communications development at Kola peninsula. The Company constantly improves the quality of its services, makes considerable investments into network modernization and extension, introduces advanced technologies and gradually replaces outdated equipment.

The meeting with the Murmansk region administration was not the only goal of visit of the CEO of JSC NWT to Kola peninsula. During these two day Vladimir Akulich will visit the communication nodes of the Murmansk branch and meet the employees. Currently the personnel of the branch consists of 2456 employees.