On 22nd September 2009 a meeting between Igor Gennady evich Fyodorov, Head of the Administration of the Nenets Autonomous Area (NAA), and Vladimir Alexandrovich Akulich, General Manager of OJSC North-West Telecom, took place in Naryan-Mar, where an Agreement of Cooperation between the Administration of NAA and the Open Joint-Stock Company North-West Telecom was signed in a new version* and the prospects of telecommunications development in the region for the year 2010 were considered.

Cooperation of the parties in the field of creating and developing the telecommunication networks in the Nenets Autonomous Area and satisfying the demand of the residents of the area for communication services as much as possible is the subject-matter of the Agreement .

Interaction in the framework of the new Agreement will make it possible to continue the work aimed at solving the tasks of informatization and development of telecommunications in the region.  

It has been stated that the most important areas of cooperation between the Administration of NAA and OJSC N.W.Telecom within the framework of the Agreement that has been made are:

- providing transport systems and data transmission centers in order to create a single telecommunication network of the administrative bodies of the Nenets Autonomous Area in the framework of the Federal Target Programme Electronic Russia;

- adapting standard technical design solutions meeting the up-to-date level, when using them in infocommunication projects of the Nenets Autonomous Area ;   

- implementing state programmes for the development of telecommunication networks and services;

- implementing socially significant programmes and projects in the territory of Nenets Autonomous Area;

- preventing and detecting any criminal trespass on telecommunication facilities and lines situated in the Nenets Autonomous Area;

- ensuring the coordination of actions in joint construction of the communication infrastructure between operators of fixed and mobile communication, and oil- and gas-producing companies.  

For the 7 years from the moment of foundation of OJSC N.W.Telecom , the Company has invested over 77,000,000 roubles in the development and upgrading of the telecommunication networks of the Nenets Autonomous Area. The territory of NAA is the only area among the regions where the digitization level of local telephone network of the Arkhangelsk branch of OJSC N.W.Telecom is 100%. A digital satellite communication line has been arranged between the cities of Arkhangelsk and Naryan-Mar to provide up-to-date communication services to subscriber s in NAA and to lease out digital communication channels to various consumer s, including cellular communication operators . A zonal telephone communication centre has been built for providing long-distance and international communication services. In the recent years the service of broadband access to the Internet provided by OJSC N.W. Telecom has been actively developed in the region. The installed capacity of the broadband access network in NAA is 1, 824 xDSL ports at the moment. Construction of a fibre-optic communication line to the Nenets Autonomous Area is being actively worked on. This will make it possible to completely satisfy the demand of the population and corporation s for communication services, to significantly improve the quality of provided services and to introduce limitless broadband Internet access into the market of the region.

OJSC North-West Telecom places emphasis on social responsibility of business and takes active part in implementing socially significant projects. Thus, 11 schools were connected to the Internet under the Education National Project in the Nenets Autonomous Area in 2006-2007. In the year two thousand seven 43 all-in-one service payphones were installed in the area, including in remote hard-to-reach settlements. 22 payphone s were connected to the public network using satellite communication channels.

Vladimir Akulich noted: " The Nenets Autonomous Area is one of the Northwestern Federal District areas where much must be done in order to create a favourable investment environment. To provide people with quality telecommunications at a level comparable with the European standard. The Area is one of the few regions where the provision of quality communication services is problematic because of the limited satellite channel.   If we connect NAA with the, so to speak, "mainland" by fibre, such problems will disappear."

* The first Agreement of Cooperation was signed by the top managers of OJSC N.W.Telecom and the Nenets Autonomous Area on 31st August 2006.