On December 9, 2004 the branch “Elektrosvyaz of Kaliningrad Region” of OJSC North-West Telecom took part in the opening ceremony of the first payphone installed in Russia within the framework of the program “Installation of payphones in rural post offices” approved by the Government of Russia.

The solemn ceremony was held at the post office of township Lugovoye, Guryevsky District. It was attended by V.G. Matyukhin, head of the Federal Agency for Information Technologies, I.N. Zadirko, head of the New Economics Section, Corporate Governance Department, RF Ministry of Economic Development, A.I. Afanasyev, Director General of OJSC National Payphone Network, V.G. Yegorov, Governor of the Kaliningrad Region, and V.I. Shumeiko, First Deputy Director General of OJSC North-West Telecom.

99 such payphones acquired by OJSC National Payphone Network were installed by the specialists of the branch “Elektrosvyaz of Kaliningrad Region” at the post offices of all districts of the Region. These payphones may be used not only for making calls to all Russian regions and foreign countries with a single payphone card but also for receiving incoming calls.

V.G. Matyukhin expressed special acknowledgment to Director General of OJSC NWT Vladimir Akulich and regional director of the Kaliningrad branch A.V. Andreyev for understanding the importance of the problem and solving it promptly. Detached geopolitically from the rest of Russia, the Kaliningrad Region has a special need for reliable communications.

The same day a videoconference was held between post office No. 15 of Kaliningrad and the port terminal in Baltiysk where the specialists of North-West Telecom put into operation a fragment of the optical fiber line which is part of the circle Kaliningrad – Svetly – Baltiysk. The videoconference took place with the participation of representatives of the port, customs and border-guard services stationed in Baltiysk. Such equipment is to be installed at all border-crossing points of the region in the nearest future.