10 June 2008, Moscow . COMSTAR – United TeleSystems JSC (“Comstar” or “the Group”) (LSE: CMST), the leading integrated telecommunications operator in Russia and the CIS, announced that CJSC Conversia Svyaz, a member of the JSC Comstar-UTS Gorup,  has put into commercial operation the intra-zone fixed line telecommunication network in the Saratov region.

Technologically, the network has been engineered based on NGN innovative solutions. Its construction and operation were permitted by the Russian Federal Surveillance Service for Mass Communications, Telecommunications and Cultural Heritage Protection for Saratov region. It has connectivity with other carriers for the purposes of traffic exchange and transit. The interconnection points have been set up in Saratov and in 37 municipal entities of Saratov region.

Presently, the CJSC Conversia Svyaz’ own network includes a transit zonal node, local telephone networks, backbones in Saratov and Engels and a fiber-optics trunk between these two cities. Its networks are built on the up-to-date equipment from the leading makers (Cisco, Siemens etc.) with a high throughput (of 1 Gbps scalable up to 10 Gbps).

Having a solid infrastructure, the company delivers a wide range of telecom services to residential and corporate users: local and intra-zone services on a “single provider-single bill” basis, broadband Internet, leased channels, VPNs etc. After JSC Comstar-UTS deploys a proprietary DLD/ILD network, the company will be able to provide by  itself the long-distance services too. In future, the network in the Saratov region is supposed to gain in footprint and capacity to meet  the growing demand for communications services.

Victor Koresh, VP for Regional Expansion of JSC Comstar-UTS commented: «Zonal networks are essential for successful performance of a nationwide operator.  We intend to provide zonal calling services in all of our presence areas, which will help significantly cut down the costs, boost revenues from traffic transit carried through our network and offer better rates to subscribers. Zonal traffic accounts for a considerable part of the Group’s revenues».   

Another member of JSC Comstar-UTS Group, TyumenNefteGazSvyaz company (TNGS) provides the zonal services in the oil-rich Tyumen region. Up ahead is an intra-zone network in the Orenburg region, and by the end of the third quarter another one in Saint-Petersburg and Krasnodar territory. This summer also a new zonal network is planned to be placed into service in the Moscow region.