At a meeting held on July 1, 2003 international rating company Standard & Poor’s adopted a resolution to assign Far East Telecom a Russian Corporate Rating (RCR) of 5.3 (on a scale of 1 – 10), which reflects the following issues:

Ownership structure and influence of shareholders – 5.5 (out of 10);

Rights of financially interested parties and relations with them – 6.3 (out of 10);

Financial transparency and disclosure of information – 4.7 (out of 10);

Composition and work practice of the Board of Directors – 4.9 (out of 10).

According to Sergei Sinenko, director of the Department of Securities and Capital Markets, the overall rating is in line with other Russian telecoms run by Svyazinvest holding.  The assignment should exert a positive impact on share prices, which in turn will boost the company’s market cap.