On November 2002 Standard&Poor's international rating agency adopted a decision to raise the corporate governance rating of OJSC North Western Telecom from 5 to 5.6.   

North Western Telecom was the first of the five Russian corporations, that was assigned an initial corporate governance rating by S&P, to have undergone a rerating.  

A team of analysts from the agency monitored the company for changes which have occurred at the company over the last six months.  A large number of documents concerning corporate governance practices was studied during the months leading up to the rerating.  Meetings were held with top managers and independent executives of OJSC North Western Telecom, the company's auditor, independent analysts, as well as shareholders.  

As a result the company's rating was upgraded from 5 to 5.6.  Commenting on S&P's decision, Ivan Rodionov, an independent executive said: "The positive developments which have taken place at North Western Telecom are reflected in the upgrade of the category entitled "Composition and corporate governance of the Board of Directors and Management".  These developments are clearly delineated in the analytical report that was released by the agency. Most noteworthy is the fact that the company has completed the transition from financial statements made to Russian Accounting System to compliance with International Accounting Standards.   

The company's development strategy envisages not only this change, but a number of others which will unquestionably have a positive impact on the reliability of information available to shareholders, which should in turn make North Western Telecom's financial statements considerably more transparent. Our task is to improve the company's market capitalization, making use of the benefits accruing from the regional merger.  The Board of Directors is doing everything possible to achieve this target.  

In the future North Western Telecom has plans to have its corporate rating reconsidered on a regular basis.  The company is also contemplating a set of measures designed to enhance financial management as well as corporate culture.  

Those who are interested in viewing the entire report by Standard& Poor's will have the opportunity to do so in the near future by logging onto NWT's corporate website at www.nwtelecom.ruor Standard&Poor’s website at www.standardandpoors.ru