July 27, 2009, Saint-Petersburg. Comstar – United Telesystems» (JSC Comstar-UTS», LSE: CMST), the leading supplier of telecom services in Russia and the CIS announces that its branch in Saint-Petersburg went ahead with the second phase of building the corporate telecom network for VTB24 Bank.

In line with contract signed last November JSC Comstar-UTS set out to deploy in Saint-Petersburg a full-fledged Virtual Private Network, (VPN) for VTB24, which is one of  the Russia’s biggest retail banks. The fist phase of the project resulted in creation of the corporate telecom network, linking the Bank’s branch and its  9 additional offices in the city also called as Northern capital. JSC Comstar-UTS has set up overlay  IP-based secure data channels, relying on the resources of its fiber-optics Next Generation Network, NGN.

The protected configuration used by JSC Comstar-UTS in this virtual network makes it flexibly scalable, and able to boost performance and spectrum of services to mach geographical expansion and changing customer needs. Successful implementation of the first phase has prompted JSC Comstar-UTS and VTB24 to continue theirs partnership. The new phase implies connection to the said corporate network of seven more bank offices, including one in suburbs as soon as this August. Overall, JSC Comstar-UTS is going to interlink 39 bank offices next year, both in the city and region.

«Implementation of such project is as tough as it is interesting and responsible task. Deployment of a network of such magnitude has now become our “signature” solution. At each stage of new network construction we seek to keep up the customer’s trust by accurate execution of its plans», commented Denis Kramarenko, Commercial director of the JSC Comstar-UTS branch in Saint-Petersburg.