Krasnodar, 27 November 2006: Southern Telecommunications Company (“UTK”) [(RTS: KUBN, KUBNP; ?ICEX: UTEL, UTELP; ADR OTC: STJSY, KUE FRA)], the principal telecommunications provider for Russia’s Southern Federal District, reports that it has won the third place in the special nomination “Best Annual Report of the Issuer included in Quotation lists of RTS Stock Exchange” at the annual contest of 2005 annual reports. The first and the second places were taken by GMK “Norilskiy Nickel” and OJSC “Lukoil”, respectively.

The competition was organized by Expert RA and RTS Stock Exchange, and sponsored by PriceWaterhouseCoopers. When estimating annual reports, the Jury took into consideration world practice of corporate documents’ preparation as well as new trends and requirements on information disclosure made by investors, shareholders and state authorities.

The Jury included representatives of financial and stock organizations, heads of the Russian largest news agencies and leading experts of consulting and design companies. More than 130 companies took part in the contest “Best 2005 Annual reports of Russian companies”.