December 23, 2009, Moscow. COMSTAR – United TeleSystems, the leading provider of integrated telecommunication services in Russia and the CIS, has sighed a partnership agreement with Tehnosila, one of the major players on the consumer electronics and appliances market in Russia. Under the agreement, on December 21, 2009, all Tehnosila stores in Moscow set upon sales of the Universal Product Box intended for independent configuration of the home broadband connection as part of the STREAM service.

For today, there are 21 Tehnosila stores located all over the city, including popular shopping centers. The STREAM Universal Product Box is also available in Tehnosila’s online store www.tehnosila.ru  and at WAP portal wap.tehnosila.ru (for access from a handset).

“We are continuously working to enhance the list of retail chains where you can buy the STREAM Universal Product Box.

“Registration for a service is the first experience the user gets from dealing with a telecom operator and this experience shall be absolutely positive! The company has launched the COMSTAR – Quality – Customer program to improve quality of service. We are striving to provide our future users with the most convenient means of registration for our services. To do this, we have launched the STREAM Universal Product Box that enables users to promptly configure Internet access by themselves. Besides, we are continuously extending the list of our partners. Co-operation with such a large, popular and well-developed retail chain as Tehnosila is an important step of this process,” Sergey Terpugov, Commercial Director for Mass Market Operation of COMSTAR-UTS, says.

“Co-operation with COMSTAR, the largest Internet provider in Moscow, provides our buyers with additional opportunities and conveniences as in our stores they may not only purchase computer hardware, but also subscribe to the high-speed Internet. This is in line with our strategy “ready solutions for each buyer” adopted in 2008,” Leonid Tyukavkin, Vice President for Strategy of TEHNOSILA, says.

Presently, the STREAM Universal Product Box is also available in STREAM Sales & Service Offices as well as in MTS and ION showrooms. In the long run, the list of services that may be purchased in retail chains will be enhanced. Particularly, WiMAX service will be sold in showrooms of COMSTAR partners.

The STREAM Universal Product Box includes a ZTE ZXDSL 831 A II modem supporting ADSL2+ and IPTV; StreamWizard auto configuration CD to independently configure an Internet connection on the Plug & Play basis; scratch card with authentication data to access the Internet and user’s Personal Cabinet; service agreement. For more details on the STREAM Universal Product Box and special tariff “STREAM 2.5 HIT – EASY” for connection using this product.

Tehnosila (www.tehnosila.ru) is a consumer electronics and appliances retailer and wholesaler. The company was founded in 1993 and rates among top three federal trading chains operating on this market with the market share of 9%. In 2008, the company sales made $1.9 billion. Presently, Tehnosila has 124 stores in 66 cities of Russia.