Moscow, Russia – August 14, 2009 – “COMSTAR – United TeleSystems” JSC (“Comstar” or “the Group”) (LSE: CMST), the largest integrated telecommunications provider in Moscow and 69 Russian cities, today announced that it has completed and launched the backbone support ring of its transport telecommunications network in the Moscow region.

The total length of the NGN network’s new fibre-optic lines connecting the ring’s telecommunications facilities exceeds 180 km. Within the framework of the project launched in 2008, Comstar’s engineers have installed 44 10-Gigabit Ethernet ports and 264 Fast Ethernet ports which enable a data transmission speed capacity of 10 Gigabits per second. The transport network’s support ring consists of 11 backbone nodes. The overall investment in the project amounted to over RUR 111 million (US$ 3.4 million).

Comstar has received permission from the Federal Service for Monitoring of Communications, Information Technologies and Mass Communications of the Russian Federation to start operating the telecommunications facilities which have been built as a part of the first stage of the Comstar’s transport network construction project in the Moscow region.

Dmitry Dronov, Director of Comstar’s Moscow Regional Branch, commented: “Comstar’s Moscow Regional Branch has completed the most important stage of the transport network construction project in the Moscow region. This network presents one of Comstar’s key competitive advantages, and the network support ring will be used in the future to attach fibre-optic lines connected to remote regional towns. We are planning to complete the construction of Comstar’s multiservice transport network by 2013. This project will enable Comstar to provide reliable, high quality telecommunications services to almost all towns of the Moscow region. Local residential subscribers, state organisations and private companies will benefit from the provision of up-to-date telecommunications solutions, including digital telephony, pay-TV and broadband internet access. In addition, Comstar will be able to rent out its channels and provide interconnection services to local telecommunications operators almost on the whole territory of the Moscow region.”