On 26 December 2003, the RF First Deputy Minister for Communications and Informatization Mr. Boris Antonyuk made the maiden call over the network based on a new long-distance dialing code 498 at the Lyuberetskiy Telephone Node of the Moscow Affiliate of JSC CenterTelecom. “The communication is of top-level quality”, that was how he appraised the work of the Telecom specialists. During the 498 code startup solemn ceremony held at the Node, the CenterTelecom representatives were provided with the Communications Ministry's license to operate the network ensuring the new code performance.

It is for the first time in Russia that two dialing codes - “096” and “498” - will be assigned to one constituent of the Russian Federation. The introduction of an additional dialing code was necessitated by and owing to the lack of the numbering capacity both in Moscow-city and the near Moscow localities. Setting the new 498 code into operation in the Moscow Environs will enable in the shortest possible time to resolve the telephone installation waiting list problem in the Moscow Region as a whole.

Messrs. B.V. Gromov , Governor of the Moscow Region, B.A. Antonyuk , RF First Deputy Minister for Communications and Informatization, N.M. Shuba , Chief Federal Inspector for the Moscow Region of the Plenipotentiary Representative of the RF President in the Central Federal District, A.B. Panteleyev , Vice- Governor of the Moscow Region, S.I. Gusev , Chief of the Lyuberetskiy Township Administration, V.N. Yashin , JSC Svyazinvest General Director, R.A. Amaryan, General Director of JSC CenterTelecom, and other officials attended the dialing code commissioning ceremony.

“In the immediate future already, we will be able to fulfill the telephone installation requests of the applicants whose previous petitions were refused due to the lack of technical facilities”, JSC CenterTelecom General Director Mr. Ruben A. Amaryan stated.

Currently, there are approximately 400 thousand people on the telephone installation waiting list in the entire Moscow Region. In the near Moscow Environs, the backlog of the demand for telephone mounting is 160 thousand applications. The localities in the immediate neighborhood of Moscow will be the first spots to put the 498 dialing code numbering capacity into operation, viz the towns of: Dolgoprudny - 1000 numbers, Odintsovo - 2000 numbers, Korolev - two exchanges for 1000 numbers each, Kransogorsk - 2000 numbers, Lobnya - 1000 numbers, Mytischi - two exchanges for 1000 and 1600 numbers, Lyubertsy - the first phase - 1568 numbers, Balashikha - first phase - 800 numbers, and Vidnoye - 2056 numbers.

The first 498 dialing code network subscriber was Mikhail Ovsyannikov, veteran of military operations in Afghanistan. The Governor of the Moscow Region Mr. Boris V. Gromov presented the veteran with the-first -subscriber certificate and the telephone-set.

The code numbering resource is 8 000 000 numbers. And considering that the Region's population is in the vicinity of 7 million people, the activation of the new code will help not only eliminate the many thousands' waiting list problem, but secure the full implementation of providing the Moscow Region inhabitants with telephone facilities. In doing so, the Company will have a considerable spare numbering capacity to furnish the fast-developing Moscow Region with telephone communication services.

To translate the project into reality, JSC CenterTelecom has done a huge work for the design and construction of an advanced and up-to-date transport network based on SDH technology. High power capacity transit nodes were built in the towns of Lyubertsy and Dolgoprudny that will switch over the dialing code 498 interconnections to other networks, including those deployed in the park belt of the Moscow Environs and in the city of Moscow. For a narrow term, fiber-optic lines over 200 km long were laid by the Company with remote switching equipment installed in virtually all towns in the Moscow Environs park belt.

The application of the leading-edge technologies and innovative equipment supplied by such well-reputed vendors as ECI (Israel), Lucent t e c (USA), NEC (Japan) enabled CenterTelecom to ensure high digital quality and reliability of telecommunications. In linkage with the multiservice network which was launched into operation last year, the Company can offer the 498 dialing code subscribers, apart from high-grade telephony, up-to-date telecommunications services , including high-speed access to Internet and digital cable television.

JSC CenterTelecom has made an over RUR 500 000 000 investment in the project. The investment repayment period is 5 years at the most.

29.12.2003