February 18, 2009, Moscow: COMSTAR – United TeleSystems (JSC COMSTAR-UTS, LSE: CMST), the leading supplier of integrated telecommunication solutions in Russia and the CIS, announced the accomplishment of equipment upgrade for provision of inter-urban and international communication in the ancotel GmbH interconnectivity center in Frankfurt am Main.

The centre became first external spot of presence for COMSTAR-UTS inter-urban and international telecom network. Back in 2008, COMSTAR-UTS used this site to install their equipment with an option to get direct connection with the networks of over 350 global operators. Within the said period, network cooperation was established with 15 operators including Telia Sonera, Telecom Italia Sparkle and Deutsche Telekom. The COMSTAR-UTS center capacity after the upgrade was expanded up to 4 STM-1 (252 Å1 streams), to enhance other carrier traffic capacity.
   
“We are building up the capacity of COMSTAR-UTS long-distance telecom network, one can clearly see as we are facing increased domestic long distance and international communication traffic with aggressive work to invite even more new subscribers to our services, – Aleksey Goncharuk, First Vice-President of JSC COMSTAR-UTS Aleksey Gontcharuk. – Network interconnectivity with telecom companies enables direct access to their subscribers around the globe with engagement of the third-party carriers.”
   
The total distant call traffic in Russia in COMSTAR owned network gained 50% for Q2 2009, compared with Q1 2009 in the COMSTAR-UTS own network as compared to the first quarter of 2009, and it gained 59% in Q3 compared to that of Q2.

In February 2008, COMSTAR-UTS accomplished distant call telecom network. The basis for this telecom network is a new-generation solution (NGN) providing voice services and implementation of new multimedia services. In August 2008, COMSTAR-UTS obtained telecom operator choice codes to provide subscriber access to inter-urban and international telecom services provided by the company; the access code being 23 for inter-urban phone calls and 28 for international calls. The company launched provision of long-distance telecom services in autumn 2008.