Nizhni Novgorod, January, 2004: On January 22, 2004Volga Telecom’s market capitalization reached $1 billion, which is an all-time high since 11 operators in the Volgaregion merged into the mega-regional company known as Volga Telecom about a year ago. On January 22, 2004the average-weighted price of common shares of Volga Telecom stood at $3.402 and preferred shares at $2.200.  All in all, since the time that the merged company’s shares starting trading on benchmark RTS (end of March 2003) Volga Telecom’s market capitalization has risen by 223%.