On June 16, 2003 Far East Telecom signed a financial leasing agreement and contracts to deliver equipment for a total value of Rub 1.17 billion with RTK Leasing and Promsvyazleasing.  Rub 845 million was for the agreement with RTK Leasing and Rub 323 million for the agreement with Promsvyazleasing.

According to the agreements, the funds allocated to the branches will go to upgrade and build networks for data transmission, introduction of IP telephony services, broadband Internet access and expansion of Internet switched access facilities.  In addition, the funds will be used to develop the GSM 900/1800 cellular communication standard in the Kamchatka and Magadan region.

In particular, there are plans in Kamchatka to upgrade the zone of cellular coverage and build 12 base cellular com stations with a capacity of 40,000 lines.  At present, the cities of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Elizov and Vilyuchinsk have only 80% coverage.  Implementation of the above project will make it possible to provide 100% coverage of the entire region and cover seven other cities – Ust Bolsheretsk, Bolsheretsk, Ust-Kamchatsk, Milkovo, Esso, Klyuchi and Nachiki.  The project is expected to be completed in 2004.

In Magadan there are plans to commission another three base cellular stations with a design capacity of 20,000 lines.  Far East Telecom’s current coverage provides telecom services to 70% of the territory of Magadan, including the airport.  The number of subscribers is 1,828.  Commissioning of the new base stations will make it possible to cover the entire territory of the regional center.

According to the deputy general director of Far East Telecom for technical issues Oleg Mamontov, the company’s key priority at present is to roll out news types of telecom services.  In 2003 alone, $8.3 million is to be spent on these value-added services. Building and upgrading data transmission networks will raise the quality of telecom services and expand the range of services available in the entire Far East region. The data transmission network will become the basis for developing card platforms, IP telephony, information services and recording communication.