On February 18-19, 2010, the first field session of the Technical Council of OJSC Svyazinvest was held in the A. S. Popov Communications Museum in St. Petersburg. The session was attended by:

From the Svyazinvest Management:

- Vladimir N. Bondarik, Associate General Manager, Chairman of the Technical Council;

- Georgiy A. Romsky, Aide to the General Manager, Associate Chairman of the Technical Council;

- Arevshad A. Vartanian, Aide to the General Manager;

- Alexey N. Nichiporenko, Aide to the General Manager,

and the heads of the Telecommunications Department, Information Technologies Department, and Business Development Department of OJSC Svyazinvest;

From the Group's companies:

- Technical directors and heads of engineering sectors of OJSC Sibirtelecom OJSC VolgaTelecom, OJSC YuTK, OJSC Dalsvyaz, OJSC North-West Telecom, OJSC CenterTelecom, OJSC Uralsvyazinform, OJSC Giprosvyaz, OJSC Dagsvyazinform, OJSC Rostelecom, OJSC Central Telegraph.

Guests:

- representatives of FGUP CNIIS, and equipment suppliers CJSC IskraUralTel, Huawei, RON-Telecom, and StepLogic.

Greeting the participants of the Technical Council, Vladimir A. Akulich, General Manager of OJSC North-West Telecom, emphasized in particular, "Despite the economic environment focused on the market relationships, it is the engineering base, equipment, and technologies that still remain the foundation and starting point for providing and selling communication services. By making and selling communication services, we really give people the joy of dialog, the joy of contact. This is our core mission and our common and loved work, which brings its real fruit. And I hope that the Technical Council, being a meeting of such a scale held in St. Petersburg for the first time, will be successful in every respect. Primarily, in terms of exchange of experience."

North-West Telecom presented to the Technical Council for review two innovative solutions, the implementation of which had already begun in the Company.

Oleg A. Semanov, Associate General Manager and Technical Manager of N.W.Telecom, presented a paper titled "Experience of implementation and prospects of use of the xPON technology in N.W.Telecom (construction, operation, sales)." O. A. Semanov noted in his paper that currently, both market factors and engineering/technological restrictions on the existing network that has been built for over 100 years require large-scale, even global changes in the approach to providing communication services, be it telephony or broadband access. This is especially applicable to megapolises where competition and requirements for services" quality are high.

Arguing for the choice of the PON (passive optical network) technology as the basic one, with a view to its regular implementation up to the year 2015, Mr. Semanov mentioned two possible ways of network development: on the basis of the TDM copper-wire network and õDSL technology, or on the basis of fiber optic infrastructure and digital Softswitch equipment. The second solution is more preferable and economically advisable from the commercial, engineering, and economic points of view, although at the early stage of its implementation it will require quite substantial investments, whose payback period does not exceed seven years by preliminary estimates.

As a result, by applying the xPON technology in the Northern Capital alone, the Company will get a material cost saving due to unification and use of centralized hi-tech solutions, and achieve a higher customer service quality, including provision of the Triple Play services. N.W.Telecom will be able to improve its client orientation and response to market changes, which will ensure retention of the existing market segment and gaining new segments.

As to the geography of PON implementation in the NWFD, in the near future it will be the District's largest cities only. However, N.W.Telecom is aware of the regional demand for broadband access services, and intends to cover it by gradual migration to the regions of xDSL equipment built upon the N.W.Telecom network in St. Petersburg.

Also at this session of the Technical Council, the STEP LOGIC company presented the experience of implementation, on the North-West Telecom network, of the technical accounting system CN OSS (Communication Network Operational Support System). The system is built upon the IronMan platform considering the specific needs of Russian telecommunication operators. The implementation of the software product on the networks of N.W.Telecom's St. Petersburg Branch is currently in its final phase. This innovative technical accounting system was highly praised by independent experts. On February 2, 2010 North-West Telecom, Siemens, and STEP LOGIC entered into a trilateral agreement for distribution of the joint Russian software product.

Besides, the technical directors of Russia¡¯s largest telecommunication companies saw presentations of telecommunication equipment makers IskraUralTel, Huawei, and RON-Telecom.

Commented Vladimir Nikolaevich Bondarik, Associate General Manager of OJSC Svyazinvest and Chairman of the Technical Council, "Our goal, that is, the goal of all the companies in the Svyazinvest Group, is to provide high-quality communication services, therefore we must be confident of the telecommunication equipment we buy. Firstly, it must be high-quality and competitive equipment, and secondly, it must be Russian-mad equipment. After all, we as other companies and industries should support the Russian makers, whose products are often quite comparable to international analogs in price and quality characteristics."