By the present moment, the network backbone core and the first forty (40) access nodes at the MGTS' telephone exchanges have been in toto built and activated. The said systems underwent an integrated verification and were authorized by the State Telecommunications Inspectorate Commission of the RF Ministry of Telecommunications to be used industrially. By the middle of 2002, the access nodes will be deployed at all telephone exchanges in Moscow.

According to the results of the tender, the CISCO Systems and Lucent Technologies companies were selected as equipment suppliers, and AMT Group, a Russian company, - as system integrator.

The access to the public data network is effected via the existing cable distribution network of OJSC MGTS with the use of the ADSL (Asymmetrical Digital Subscriber Line) technology that enables to set up for subscriber a broadband digital channel in parallel with the conventional city telephone.

The commissioned public data network makes the most up-to-date telecommunications services - high-rate access to Internet, virtual private networks (VPN), voice transmission over Internet (VoIP) - accessible to OJSC MGTS subscribers, both to private individual users and corporate customers. In prospect, based on the network, video on request, videoconferencing, telemedicine, distant learning and other services could be provided.

According to OJSC MGTS General Director Vladimir S. Lagutin, the furnishing of fundamentally new services will help bring the Moscow Region telecommunications market to the world's top-notch level. The project implementation will also have a positive bearing on the improvement of subscriber servicing quality, and will increase the investment allurement of the Company.