Moscow, 16 July 2003. Golden Telecom, Inc. (NASDAQ: GLDN) announced today that its wholly owned subsidiary, LLC EDN Sovintel, has installed a specialized high-speed Internet access system for hotels, the first such system in Russia, in the Moscow Hotel Metropol.

Kevin Cuffe, Vice-President of Golden Telecom and Head of the Business and Consumer solutions Business Unit, said: "At present, telecommunications are an integral part of the hotel business.  The guests pay attention not only to the quality of the room but to many other things as well, such as the quality of communications. This is why Golden Telecom has been working with hotels, developing and successfully introducing specialized telecommunications solutions which allow additional services to be provided to guests."

The new solution makes it possible to gain Internet access both from the room and from the business center of the hotel, where special work stations have been set up. The new system uses the existing telephone wiring and specialized Cisco LRE (Long Reach Ethernet) equipment and does not require laying of any new lines to the hotel rooms. The entire network is managed by means of the Cisco Building Broadband Service Manager (BBSM) system.

The system installed in Hotel Metropol has the following advantages:

compatibility with a large number of mobile computers: customers can obtain high-speed Internet access using any notebook with a built-in network interface;

simple connection: customers connect a lead to the Ethernet socket in the room and start up the Internet browser, without making any additional adjustments;

reliability and safety: each guest receives a reliably protected and guaranteed connection which can be used simply for Internet access or for remote access to a corporate network and other applications.

"Our cooperation with Golden Telecom has always enabled us to respond quickly to dynamic changes on the technology market and be one of the first to introduce the latest achievements in the field of telecommunications," says Igor Luzhnikov, Head of the Systems and Telecommunications Division of Hotel Metropol. "The high-speed Internet access network elevates Hotel Metropol to a new service level allowing us to provide telecommunications services of a new generation to our customers."

Golden Telecom, Inc. (www.goldentelecom.ru)

Golden Telecom, Inc., (NASDAQ: GLDN) is a major alternative provider of integrated voice, data and Internet services in major cities of Russia and other countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). Golden Telecom offers local communication services using overlay networks in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod, and Kiev; data, domestic long-distance and international services using fiber-optic lines and a satellite-based network, including more than 149 combined points of access to the network in Russia and other CIS countries. Golden Telecom also provides dedicated and dial-up Internet access services for private and corporate users as well as information services through several network brands, including the ROL portal.

For additional information please contact:

Public relations:

Anna Chin-Go-Pin

e-mail: achin@gldn.net

Tel.: +7-501-797-9300; fax: +7-501-797-9332

Investor relations:

Tom Adshead

e-mail: tadshead@gldn.net

Tel.: +7-501-797-9300; fax: +7-501-797-9332

www.goldentelecom.com