OREANDA-NEWS. A meeting took place in Arkhangelsk between N. I. Kiselyov, Head of the Arkhangelsk Oblast Administration, and V.A. Akulich, General Manager of OJSC N.W. Telecom. The results of fulfilling the Agreement of Cooperation between the Administration of Arkhangelsk Oblast and the Open Joint-Stock Company North-West Telecom that was signed on 2nd February 2005 were discussed and the prospects of the communication industry development in the region for the year 2007 were considered in the course of the meeting. The Parties noted that all obligations under the Agreement had been completely fulfilled.

Interaction in the framework of the Agreement had made it possible to continue the work aimed at solving the tasks of providing telephone communication and Internet services to northern difficult-to-access areas and to the rural areas of Arkhangelsk Oblast.  

In 2006 OJSC N.W. Telecom invested 654,7 million roubles in the development and upgrading of region's communication networks. Fibre-optic communication lines (FOCL) were built in the section s Krasavino-Kotlas-Shiroky Priluk, Kotlas-Krasnoborsk 277 km in length and in the section Kholmogory-Novodvinsk 55 km in length in the south of Arkhangelsk Oblast. The telephone capacity of the Company in the territory of the region increased by 1,306 telephone numbers. A new digital electronic telephone exchange with the capacity of 1,680 numbers was built in the village of Yarensk, the telephone exchange in Novodvinsk was expanded by 960 numbers, and the crossbar office with the capacity of 416 numbers was replaced by a digital one in the settlement of Samoded. More than 1700 numbers were used to replace outdated telephone exchanges.

The planned amount of OJSC N.W. Telecom's investment in the development of the telecommunications network of the region for the year 2007 exceeds 694 million roubles. The construction of the Arkhangelsk-Kotlas FOCL and the development of the multiservice communication network are going on. Implementing these projects will make it possible to improve the quality of providing Internet broadband access services, to increase the data transmission speed and to offer the users the Avant-guard service under limitless rate plans (without any restrictions of traffic).

By the end of the year 2007 the capacity of the broadband access network in the region will be more than 21,000 xDSL ports.12,720 telephone numbers will be put into operation, about 10,000 of which will be used to replace the capacity of outdated telephone exchanges. The digitalization level of the local telephone network of the Arkhangelsk Branch of OJSC N.W.Telecom will reach 59,4%.  

In 2006-2007 OJSC North-West Telecom has been doing much to implement the national Education project and the programme for providing the universal communication services using payphone s. 2874 universal servicing payphone s in 2851 settlement s have been installed in Arkhangelsk Oblast in the course of implementing the project for introducing the universal services. Connection to the Internet was provided to 177 schools in Arkhangelsk Oblast and the Nenets Autonomous Area in 2006 in the framework of the Education project. Another 108 schools in remote and difficult-to-access settlement s of the region will get high-speed access to educational resources of the Internet by 1st September this year.  

The Head of Arkhangelsk Oblast thanked the management of OJSC North-West Telecom for the intensive activities in the region and appreciated the joint work as very positive. He said, "The Administration of Arkhangelsk Oblast is ready and willing to continue to render all kinds of support for the development of telecommunications in the region".

General Manager of OJSC N.W.Telecom Vladimir Akulich assured his partner s that "the Company would continue to invest much in the upgrading and expanding the communication network s in the territory of Arkhangelsk Oblast. All obligations undertaken by North-West Telecom in the framework of the Agreement would be fulfilled".  

The meeting with the leaders of Arkhangelsk Oblast is not the only goal of OJSC N.W. Telecom's General Manager 's visit to the region. Vladimir Akulich will meet the working teams of the Company 's divisions in Arkhangelsk and Severodvinsk.