November 10, 2003. Moscow. On November 6, the Board of Directors of ZAO Comstar resolved to appoint Semyon Rabovsky General Director of the Company. Prior to this appointment, Mr. Rabovsky was first deputy General Director of OAO MGTS. Also on November 6, the Board of Directors of ZAO MTU-Inform resolved to elect Semyon Rabovsky Chairman of the Company’s Board of Directors. These appointments were made in pursuance of a project to set up a Joint Digital Operator on the basis of Sistema JSFC’s fixed communications subsidiaries: Comstar, MTU-Inform, MTU-Intel, Telmos, and Golden Line. Commenting on the new appointments, Vladimir Lagutin, General Director of the Sistema Telecom Company that manages Sistema JSFC’s telecommunications assets, said: “Merger of our two leading telecommunications assets, Comstar and MTU-Inform, is to become a first step on the way to put a new operator on the market. By availing ourselves of Comstar’s license privileges and MTU-Inform’s technologies, we are building a firm foundation for continued consolidation. Our next step will be, according to plans were have in the pipeline, taking over Telmos, when we reach accommodation with the Rostelecom company that holds 20% of shares in Telmos”. In Vladimir Lagutin’s view, the ultimate result will be an operator that will take up a strong position in the fixed communications market, a prospect that puts more stringent demands on its management efficiency, imposes fresh obligations on its management, and requires changes in the management configuration of the companies involved in the project. “Our principal task is to make the best use of the staff potential at all management levels in the merging companies,” said Vladimir Lagutin. Semyon V. Rabovsky, first deputy General Director of OAO MGTS, was born in 1954. In 1977, he graduated from the Institute of Electrical Communications in Moscow, majoring in automatic electrical communications, and in 1981 he took out a degree from the Maurice Thorez Foreign Languages Institute, Moscow. Now, he has a doctorate in sociology and is a professor. Mr. Rabovsky’s work record is associated with the Moscow City Telephone Network (Russian acronym MGTS). On graduation in 1977, he was assigned as engineer, rising to shop superintendent of the Central Telephone Station. Beginning in 1990, he has been on the management board of OAO MGTS, promoted in 1997 to first deputy General Director. Mr. Rabovsky is a member of the Board of Directors of AO MGTS. Mr. Rabovsky has won commendations for proficiency and excellence in the communications business from the nation’s authorities. He has been decorated with a medal commemorating 850 years of Moscow, and a number of corporate and institutional awards. ZAO Comstar was established in 1989. It is a leading communications operator in Moscow and has some presence in a number of Russian regions. Comstar is a member of the Sistema Telecom group of companies. It offers a broad spectrum of telecommunications services in all market segments, from major corporate customers to individual users. The company holds licenses for such services as local, zonal, trunk, and international telephone communications, data transfer, telematics, audio conferencing, video conferencing, and communications channels for lease. It is also active in the construction industry. The company has 2,500 kilometers of its own communications lines, which are integrated into the communications networks of leading operators in Russia and the world. In 2003, Comstar launched a new-generation multiple-service package network offering a broad spectrum of services. ZAO MTU-Inform Company was established in 1995. It is one of the biggest telephone operator in Moscow and a member of the Sistema Telecom group of companies. MTU-Inform holds licenses to provide local, trunk and zonal telephone services, data transfer and telematics services, and cable television services. The company delivers its services via its proprietary SDH fiber-optics network. It used the SDH delivery network to build a number of overlaid telecommunications networks – telephone, Internet access, data transfer, cable television, and intelligent telephony. The company offers a full spectrum of communications services to corporate customers and digital telephone, high-speed Internet access, and cable television services to residents of modern houses. ZAO Telmos was organized in 1993, and now is a member of the Sistema Telecom group of companies. It holds licenses to provide local, trunk and international telephone services, data transfer, telematics, and communications channel leasing services. Its services span a broad spectrum, from standard telephone services to integration of all required communications services into a single corporate network, including consulting and project development and implementation. It operates a proprietary fiber-optics communications network. Sistema Telecom Company was established on July 1, 1998 as a Sistema JSFC subsidiary to manage the corporation’s telecommunications assets. Sistema Telecom comprises leading Russian telecommunications operators providing mobile and fixed telephone services, paging and satellite communications, Internet access, and services based on the global positioning system and broadband communications services, such as OAO MTS, OAO MGTS, ZAO MTU-Inform, ZAO MTU-Intel, ZAO Comstar, ZAO Telmos, and several other. Anna Boiko, Managing Director Information and Public Relations Department, Sistema Telecom Tel.: (095) 105-74-10 E-mail: boyko@sistel.ru