OREANDA-NEWS. January 24, 2008. Standard & Poor's confirmed the long-term credit rating in respect of the obligations in foreign currency at the BB- level and the rating according to the Russian scale at the ruAA- level of the Russian operator of fixed communication OJSC North-West Telecom (OJSC N.W. Telecom). The forecast is “Stable”.

Analysts of the agency have noted that, as before, the rating has been positive ly influenced by
the leading positions of the Company in the sector of traditional telephony;
the continuing improvement of the network quality;
the improvement of the operating profitability.

The rating also takes into account the moderate level of OJSC N.W. Telecom 's debt and the balanced financial policy that has been pursued for a long time.

In the opinion of the experts, a positive circumstance is the further enhancement of diversification of OJSC N.W. Telecom's proceeds due to the increase of broadband access. The consistent concentration of the Company on cost control and efficiency improvement has resulted in a stable growth of profitability: in the middle of the 2007 the EBITDA margin amounted to 36% against 28.7% in 2005. OJSC N.W. Telecom has a better position by the debt level as compared to other telecommunications companies of the similar rank.