Moscow, Russia – December 18, 2012 – Rostelecom OJSC (the “Group”, the “Company”) (MICEX - RTS: RTKM, RTKMP; OTCQX: ROSYY), Russia’s national telecommunications operator, announces that the Group has made its first test call from its 3G+ base station in Krasnodar. The Company expects to launch its commercial 3G network in the region at the beginning of the second quarter of 2013.

Rostelecom is building 3G networks in 27 Russian regions and expects to install over 8,000 base stations. The network, which is being built by Rostelecom in southern Russia, will be multi-standard and will combine the advantages of three generations of networks, GSM (2G), UMTS (3G) and LTE (4G).. This multi-standard network solution enables Rostelecom to build a single switch for three networks in Krasnodar, as well as to facilitate seamless network switching of mobile subscriber equipment from one network to another. Huawei, a world leading manufacturer of telecommunications equipment, has been selected as the equipment supplier and solutions provider for all three network types in the region.

Given the high demand for mobile data transmission services, the Group uses the HSPA+ advanced technology, which can support transmission speeds of up to 21 MB/s. The network is therefore 3G+, as the first 3G networks in Russia only supported transmission speeds of up to 3.6 MB/s. In future, Rostelecom plans to increase the network capacity to ensure a possible speed of up to 42 MB/s. Rostelecom is developing the Krasnodar Krai telecom infrastructure as part of the Olympic project a and technological partnership between Rostelecom and “Sochi-2014”.

Alexander Shipulin, Vice President – Director of the Macro Regional Division South at Rostelecom, commented: “On December 11, 2012, Rostelecom’s macro regional division South marked an important step in the development of its infrastructure when we made the first test call from our 3G+ base station in Krasnodar. The main objective is to test whether the network is technologically ready to provide high-quality services to our existing and potential customers. Rostelecom is going through a major transformation from being a traditional telecommunications company to becoming a global service provider. At present, the Group is the leading provider of fixed-line services in the south of Russia and from next year, Rostelecom will begin a commercial roll-out of its multi-standard new generation mobile networks. In 2013, our subscribers will have access to a full range of telecom services from a single provider.”

Rostelecom and its subsidiaries, NCC CJSC, BWC CJSC, ETC CJSC, Sky Link CJSC, Volgograd-GSM CJSC, AKOS CJSC and Wireless Information Technologies LLC, provide mobile services in 59 Russian regions to over 13.5 million subscribers.