On November 10, 2010 a meeting between Vologda Region Governor Vyacheslav Pozgalyov and NWT General Manager Vladimir Akulich was held in Vologda. As the result of the meeting, a Cooperation Agreement between the Vologda Region Government and North-West Telecom was signed.

The Agreement provides for long-term partner relations between the Vologda Region Government and North-West Telecom on the basis of mutually beneficial cooperation and with the objective of making telecommunication services available to the Region’s population and legal entities.

The parties also discussed the results of performance of the five-year Cooperation Agreement signed between the Vologda Region Government and North-West Telecom in January 2005.

The parties noted that all obligations specified in the Agreement were fulfilled completely .

In particular, the Vologda Region Government :

- provided support to NWT’s Vologda Branch on all levels of administration and interaction with the Road Facilities, Forestry and Agriculture Departments on such issues as construction, allocation of land plots for construction, and refurbishment of communication lines ;

- engaged NWT’s Vologda Branch in building communications networks in the interests of the Region Government;

- engaged NWT’s Vologda Branch in holding events with the use of up-to-date telecommunication facilities (videoconferences on the opening of digital schools, Russian Nationwide Scientific and Practical Conference “Innovation Development of Rural Territories”, videoconference communication sessions and web-broadcasting of the Victory Parade in Vologda ).

On its part, during 2005-2010 North-West Telecom invested 4.8 billion rubles in the development of the regional telecommunication infrastructure with the following results:

- over 7 thousand km of fiber optic lines were laid, including lines to each district and rural telephone exchange, which allowed to complete the construction of the primary fiber optic communications network in the Region in 2010;

- with the use of optic fiber communications lines, channels were provided for data transfer from Vologda to St. Petersburg, Arkhangelsk and Syktyvkar with the aggregate throughput capacity of 25Gb/s;

- geographic reservation was provided for communications lines to the district centers in order to make communications uninterruptible and reliable;

- 90 digital telephone exchanges were installed around the Region with the total capacity over 86 000 numbers. The digitalization level of the local telephone network is 79%;

- all crossbar telephone exchanges in Vologda were replaced with digital exchanges, thus making the city’s telephone network fully digital;

- the program of telephone network expansion to such remote communities in Vologda Region as Lomovatka, Veliky Ustyug District; Pyazhelka, Koloshma, Babayevsky District; Yanishevo, Vytegra District; Ida, Karitsa and Gremyachiy, Totma District; Vosya and Vostrogsky, Gryazovets District was implemented;

- overhead communication lines along federal and regional roads were removed;

- the broadband access network is actively developing. The high-speed Internet access service is currently provided to more than 100 thousand users;

- 6224 payphones were installed within the framework of the all-in-one communication service in Vologda Region;

- Internet access was provided in 528 educational institutions within the framework of the Education project.

Having signed the Agreement, Vologda Region Governor Vyacheslav Pozgalyov noted that the infrastructure created by North-West Telecom – the primary fiber optic communications network – would enable to automate to the maximum possible extent the administration system of state and municipal authorities. “I am very glad that we have now a flexible efficient system of communications with the remotest parts of Vologda Region. Doubtlessly, it will help improve the system of economic administration, social services and deal with all urgent issues in our Region”, the Region Governor emphasized.

In his turn, NWT Director General Vladimir Akulich noted that it was really necessary to sign the new Agreement as the previous version became outdated due to the appearance of new services and technologies. He also thanked Vologda Region Governor Vyacheslav Pozgalyov for the Region Government’s support to North-West Telecom: “We would have never laid our fiber optic lines in the Region in such quantity without the support from the Vologda Region Government. All necessary approvals for the construction of our facilities were executed without delay, in a businesslike manner, which eventually contributed to the development of the Region’s telecommunications infrastructure and implementation of a number of important social projects.”