December 9, 2008, Moscow, Odessa. Comstar – United TeleSytems (JSC Comstar-UTS, LSE: CMST), the leading carrier of integrated telecommunication services in Russia and the CIS, announces that LLC Comstar Ukraine, making part of the JSC Comstar-UTS Group, and LLC IBOX have made a contract enabling subscribers in  Odessa to pay for telecommunication services through I-Box instant payment terminals.

As a result of collaboration between Comstar-Ukraine and I-Box, running a wide network of multi-service payment terminals, the subscribers in Odessa have been offered another simple, reliable and fast tool to pay for services delivered by Comstar-Ukraine, including broadband Internet via dedicated fiber (using Ethernet) and IP-TV. In all, there are 135 I-Box terminals installed across the city in its most visited places such as large leisure areas, movie theatres, higher schools, supermarkets, shops, cafes, restaurants etc. This system is one of the most fail-safe and secure in the league of their own. The payments through I-Box terminal are free of any extra charges.

Comstar-Ukraine is constantly working to improve the Comstar-Ukraine customer care standards, seeking to create the maximum of convenience for subscribers. Last June, a similar agreement was passed with a company “United Instant Payment System”, also operating in the residential segment and counting 170 terminals in Odessa (see the news in our archive: link). Together both those deals made it possible for Odessa’s subscribers to pay for Comstar services in every part of the city.

In the nearest future, the instant payment via I-Box terminals will also be available in Kiev. Eventually, the inhabitants of these two cities, regardless of their location, will be able to pay for the Carrier’s services by using any terminal in the system. In the longer run, the  partnership with I-Box is supposed to bring about supplementary services and other joint projects aimed at promotion of the Carrier’s offerings in the Ukraine’s telecommunication market.