Moscow, Russia - March 23, 2006 - COMSTAR - United TeleSystems (Comstar UTS) today announced consolidated key operating data for its alternative and traditional segments as at December 31, 2005.

Comstar UTS had more than 444,000 residential subscribers in alternative segment as at December 31, 2005, of which the number of broadband subscribers increased by 143% year on year.  The number of dial-up subscribers declined by 47% in 2005, which was in line with the general market trend of subscribers switching to broadband services.  Comstar UTS has also announced the total number of pay-TV service subscribers for the first time.  Pay-TV services were provided to subscribers with the commercial launch of StreamTV in September 2005. The pay-TV subscriber base grew strongly during the fourth quarter and had reached nearly 6,700 by the end of the year.

The corporate client base in the alternative fixed-line telecommunications segment grew to more than 31,000 subscribers as at December 31, 2005. The number capacity in the alternative fixed-line telecommunications segment was 628,000 numbers by the year end, whilst the number of ADSL and data transmission channels increased by 36% during the year.  Local connections still account for the majority of the traffic. The ratio between the volume of local calls and international and inter-city connections (long-distance calling) was 6:1, which reflects the structure of both the corporate client and operator markets.

The total number capacity in the traditional fixed-line telecommunications segment was 4,637,383 numbers, of which over 3.5 million numbers were provided to residential subscribers and more than 728,000 numbers were provided to corporate subscribers. The company provided traditional fixed-line telecommunications services to 3,536,479 residential customers and more than 76,000 corporate customers as at December 31, 2005.

Alternative Fixed-Line Business

	As at December 31			As at September 30
	2003	2004	2005	2004	2005
Number of subscribers	525 566	478 666	475 959	399 626	466 481
Residential subscribers	501 761	451 059	444 347	373 172	435 779
Broadband subscribers	4 357	102 516	249 542	37 003	198 654
Dial-up subscribers	493 154	343 691	182 350	331 655	232 004
Voice subscribers	4 250	4 852	5 764	4 514	5 121
Pay -TV subscribers			6 691
Corporate subscribers	23 555	27 258	31 170	26 164	30 310
Operators	250	349	442	290	392
Active telephone lines
Corporate subscribers	100 694	116 842	134 985	116 669	130 655
Operators	100 691	102 445	112 038	102 156	106 111
Mobile operators	303 571	303 574	325 572	303 573	323 571
Residential subscribers	9 511	7 683	8 260	7 566	7 925
Total	514 467	530 544	580 855	529 964	568 262
Installed capacity / telephone lines	548 600	588 600	628 600	548 600	628 600
ADSL and data transmission channels	20 403	19 701	26 814	17 784	24 092
Traffic / minute
Operators
Local	255 683	5 451 939	3 436 320	2 794 188	2 853 874
DLD / ILD	210 510	312 683	573 091	411 255	456 532
Total	466 192	5 764 622	4 009 411	3 205 443	3 310 406
Traffic / minute
Corporate subscribers
Local	366 011	617 423	1 305 352	573 446	888 944
DLD / ILD	99 932	122 905	216 004	117 408	154 566
Total	465 943	740 327	1 521 356	690 853	1 043 509

Traditional Fixed-Line Business

	As at December 31			As at September 30
	2003	2004	2005	2004	2005
Number of current subscribers
Residential subscribers	3 409 841	3 472 661	3 536 479	3 448 361	3 524 112
Corporate subscribers	77 464	76 407	76 042	76 586	75 525
Operators	204	222	213	208	198
Total	3 487 509	3 549 290	3 612 734	3 525 155	3 599 835
Active telephone lines
Residential subscribers	3 409 841	3 472 661	3 536 479	3 448 361	3 524 112
Corporate subscribers	717 950	723 611	728 329	722 181	725 689
Total	4 127 791	4 196 272	4 264 808	4 170 542	4 249 801
Installed capacity / telephone lines	4 367 102	4 491 055	4 637 383	4 402 066	4 610 323
Access nodes / lines rented
Corporate subscribers	30 348	31 154	30 846	31 074	31 186
Operators	131 576	170 736	182 049	144 393	182 996
Total	161 924	201 890	212 895	175 467	214 182
Interconnect / Operators
DLD / ILD (minutes)	2 619 573	2 739 831	2 645 775	1 946 887	1 983 337