Moscow, Russia – March 19, 2013 – Rostelecom OJSC (MICEX-RTS: RTKM, RTKMP; OTCQX: ROSYY) (“the Company”), Russia’s national telecommunications operator, today announces that Rostelecom is launching commercial 3G+ network in Penza, through the Group’s subsidiary ZAO NSS. The network will provide subscribers with high mobile data transfer speeds, enabling them to access internet services on their smartphones and tablets with ease.

Rostelecom’s 3G+ network in Penza has been built using modern HSPA+ technology, and provides data transfer speeds of up to 21MB/s (with a  possible increase to 42 MB/s). The first stage of the launch, will see the network being introduced at 76 base stations and only days after its launch, the scale of internet traffic is expected to significantly increase.

‘With the launch of the 3G+ mobile network, Rostelecom subscribers will be able to use innovative services such as mobile TV, broadband and streaming video and audio files. High speed mobile data transfer brings a new level of quality and comfort to internet browsing, when using GPS and maps, when chatting on social networks and when exchanging large scale information,’ noted the Director of Rostelecom’s Penza subsidiary Lev Dyatlov.

Lev Dyatlov added, “Penza Oblast is the second area of Russia’s Volga region where Rostelecom provides 3G network services through its subsidiary ZAO NSS. At the beginning of March, a 3G+ network was launched In Ulyanovsk Oblast. Construction work on 3G networks in Nizhny Novgorod, Samara, Saratov and Orenburg Oblasts as well as in the Republic of Tatarstan will be completed over the coming months.”

Rostelecom and its subsidiaries (NSS, BVK, ETK, Sky Link, Volgograd GSM, AKOS, BIT) provide mobile services in 59 regions across Russia, serving over 13.6 million subscribers. The Company is undertaking the construction of mobile 3G networks in 27 Russian regions (networks have already been launched in Irkutsk Oblast and Primorsky Krai). In total, more than 8,000 base stations are planned. The suppliers of technical support and solutions for our 3G+ networks are Ericsson and Huawei.