In 2004, the proceeds North-West Telecom branch Murmanelektrosviaz increased by 15% as for the similar period of the last year, and amounted to RUR 1,560 million. The earnings from communication services were RUR 1,516 million (a 15% increase), of which, RUR 652 million from national and international communication services, and RUR 562 million, from city communication services.

The capital investment of OJSC North-West Telecom in the development of communication facilities in Murmansk region amounted to RUR 222.3 million. According to the Company’s investment program, 20,308 telephone numbers were put into operation. 9,108 new basic telephone sets were added in 2004, the increase rate being 105%. The installed network capacity reached 299,684 numbers, with 67% of these connected to advanced digital exchanges. The digitization level of the Murmansk network was 91%. In December 2004, the last step-by-step decadic exchange was decommissioned in Murmansk region.

In 2004, the branch Murmanelektrosviaz started up a convergent network for a capacity of 1200 subscriber xDSL ports, which has covered all the cities of Murmansk region. During the network building, the existing switched access nodes were updated, modem pools were extended, and advanced digital equipment were installed at the data transmission nodes. This enabled a noticeable improvement in the quality of the existing services, and new services offered to users: high-speed Internet (xDSL, Ethernet), local network pooling (VPN) etc.