In 2006-2007 RTCOMM and OJSC North-West Telecom are planning to connect 3321 schools to the Internet, 1704 of them by the end of 2006. The connection of schools will be provided in the framework of implementing the priority national project " Education" in respect of providing access to the Internet network for general educational institution s in RF.  

OJSC RTComm.RU (the RTCOMM company), which deals with providing round-the-clock unlimited access to the Internet to general educational institutions by the end of 2007, has become the contractor under the project of providing access to the Internet to general educational institutions on the basis of an open competition.  

According to an agreement made with RTCOMM, OJSC North-West Telecom will be a partner in implementing the " Education " project in the Northwestern Federal District .     The functions of OJSC N.W.Telecom include organizing virtual communication channels at a speed not lower than 128 Kbit/s from educational institution s to regional access centers of   RTCOMM, round-the-clock provision of such channels for use and maintenance, installation and adjustment of terminal equipment at schools.

By the moment OJSC N.W.Telecom has already connected 530 schools to the Internet via the broadband access system. Till the end of 2006 OJSC N.W.Telecom will continue its work of connecting the schools where it is already technically possible to organize broadband access to the Internet.   In 2007 high-speed access to general educational resources will be provided to schools in remote and difficult-to-access settlements, for which purpose it is expected to use ground-based satellite communication systems and radio access technologies.

It is expected that 538 schools in Arkhangelsk Oblast and Nenets Autonomous District, 312 in the Republic of Karelia , 286 in the Republic of Komi , 637 in Vologda Oblast , 112 in Kaliningrad Oblast , 396 in Leningrad Oblast, 245 in Murmansk Oblast , 287 in Novgorod Oblast, 395 in Pskov Oblast and 77 in St. Petersburg will be connected for two years.  

For reference: at the moment OJSC North-West Telecom is interacting with the federal and regional state authorities in the process of implementing the following target social ly oriented and publicly significant programme s and projects:

• the Programme for Providing Telecommunication Services to Residents of St. Petersburg for the years 2005 -2007;
• the Federal Target Programme "Social Development of Rural Areas till 2010";
• introduction of universal service s of telephone communication in the territory of Arkhangelsk Oblast and Kaliningrad Oblast;
• CyberM@il programme , which is implemented under the aegis of the RF Ministry of Information Technologies and Communication jointly with FGUP Mail of Russia;
• Programme of Providing Telephone Communication to the Disabled and Participant s of WWII.

Project "Development of the Technical Basis of Modern Information Educational Technologies of a Priority National Project".