December 3, 2009, Moscow. COMSTAR – United TeleSystems (JSC COMSTAR-UTS, LSE: CMST), the leading integrated telecom services operator in Russia and the CIS announced, that the number of subscribed Russian users of COMSTAR FON Wi-Fi network reached 2,000, with a total number of FON hot spots being as many as 5,000 in Moscow.

COMSTAR-UTS and FON Wireless Limited launched wireless broadband Internet access joint service using Wi-Fi for subscribers of STREAM, the largest Moscow provider, at the end of 2008. COMSTAR FON network is a Russian segment of the global "social" Wi-Fi FON network, the subscribers of which can freely use the access points of each other. To arrange a FON access point in Moscow one just has to lease a La Fonera Wi-Fi router from COMSTAR operator for as little as 30 rubles a month and to register it in the network via a special application form at https://www.fon.com. All active hot spots which are accessible at a present moment shall be displayed on an interactive map of the project network available at: https://maps.fon.com.

“As of today, COMSTAR FON network has 2,000 subscribers, but its real coverage is much more. If in the past the Moscow map of FON network displayed only those routers which were registered by the users themselves; now all hot spots accessible for the registered users of FON network are visualized, including the foreign ones. It is vitally important for further growth of the network, as the more active points of access it comprises, the more interest for the new subscribers to be connected and to register their router it makes; having opened public access to them for other members of Wi-Fi FON community, with most of them having free access to similar points of access in those cities where FON network is operable now. Which is more than 500 000 hot spots worldwide,” Alexander Gorbunov, vice-president for Strategy and Development of COMSTAR-UTS said. “We expect to offer our subscribers of broadband access in Moscow a special version of ZTE W300 modem with a built in FON feature in the nearest future,” he added.

“I do appreciate the dynamics of COMSTAR project development. We have passed the service pre-launch period on the market, explanations to consumers of the benefits provided by FON service which enables its wide distribution. Consequently, today we award our 2,000-th registered subscriber. Thus, it is necessary to notice that the total number of accessible hot spots already reached 5,000 and their quantity in Moscow grows on a sustainable basis! Presence on the map of all active routers means that now all Foneros may use them. The logic of the project is simple: only after registration of the router the subscriber has an opportunity to freely use all FON hot spots in Moscow and other countries. And owners of the routers who were not registered yet at FON site, cannot enter FON world net, though their points of access are already visible at the map and other registered FON subscribers can use them,” Evgeny Koryagin, Head of the Russian FON Wireless Limited Office pointed out.

To find all data regarding COMSTAR FON service and the map of active hot spots visit https://www.fon.comstar.ru/.