On the 18th of October 2006 in the settlement of Roshchino, Pravdinsky District, the first call from a universal servicing payphone was given in Kaliningrad Oblast . Specialists of the Kaliningrad branch of OJSC N.W.Telecom presented a unified card for payment for universal communication services of payphone s to the first user of the universal service - Lyudmila Georgiyevna Kopylova, a retired resident of the settlement .

In March 2006 OJSC North-West Telecom became the winner of the competition for the right of providing universal services of telephone communication using payphone s in Kaliningrad Oblast and Arkhangelsk Oblast (ñì. ïðåññ-ðåëèç îò 7 àïðåëÿ 2006 ãîäà).

In October 2006, at the first stage of programme implementation , 26 payphone s will be put into operation in Kaliningrad Oblast : in Guseyevsky, Bagrationovsky and Pravdinsky municipal formations and in the city of Kaliningrad.   All in all, prior to the 10th of April 2007 the branch will install 572 payphone s in 559 settlement s, including 77 settlements that have no telephone communication at all .

The Kaliningrad branch installs universal payphone s traditionally - by laying a cable from the operating telephone exchanges, and where it is not technically possible, it uses radio extenders of subscriber lines from the operating telephone exchanges.

Payphone s are installed in convenient public places according to the requirement s and rules of providing universal communication services . A distinguishing feature of the universal servicing payphone is that it can be used not only to give a phone call - a free incoming call can be received to it, too. Each payphone is given a telephone number, which is indicated on the rules of using the set.

Payment for the payphone communication services is effected using a payment card with the nominal value of 100 roubles, which can be bought at clients servicing centers, at post offices or from postmen.    The per-minute rate of a local connection is 34 kopecks. Long-distance and international calls are charged for at the rates of telecommunications operators .

According to the terms of the competition, in 2006-2007 OJSC N.W.Telecom will install 2874 universal payphone s in 2851 settlement s of Arkhangelsk Oblast and 572 payphones in 559 settlements of Kaliningrad Oblast. To implement this project, OJSC North-West Telecom is planning to invest 536,000,000 roubles in Arkhangelsk Oblast and about 55,000,000 roubles in Kaliningrad Oblast.

At the moment 781 universal servicing payphone s are already operating in Arkhangelsk Oblast.