OREANDA-NEWS. On May 11, 2007 “COMSTAR – United TeleSystems” JSC (“COMSTAR UTS”) (LSE: CMST), the leading combined telecommunications operator in Russia and CIS, announced that Moody’s Investors Service has assigned a Ba3 corporate rating to COMSTAR-UTS, with a stable outlook. This is the first time that Moody’s rates the company, reported the press-centre of COMSTAR-UTS.
The Ba3 corporate family rating factors in COMSTAR’s competitive advantage in the market as the owner of the local loop infrastructure in Moscow; the limited competition COMSTAR faces in both the residential traditional services market, and the corporate and broadband/data markets; the growth potential in all segments supported by inter-company synergies, cross-selling and single brand promotion the potential benefits from integrating with other Sistema projects, such as FMC with MTS (Mobile Telecommunications, rated by Moody’s “Ba3”) and the potential synergies from cooperation with the state-owned all-Russia telecommunications holding OAO Svyazinvest (“Svyazinvest”).