OREANDA-NEWS. February 04, 2010. Southern Telecommunications Company (UTK) [(RTS: KUBN, KUBNP; МICEX: UTEL, UTELP; ADR OTC: STJSY, KUE FRA)], the largest fixed-line telecom provider in the Southern Federal District of Russia, hereby announces that based on preliminary data the number of broadband Internet subscribers at UTK increased by 53% and totaled 543,000 in 2009.

Aggressive expansion and promotion of broadband Internet services is a priority in UTK’s 2010 investment program (see press release dated November 2009).  All in all, the company plans to allocate about 30% of its investments, or a total of RUR 4.2 bln for rolling out high-speed access in 2010.  In addition, the positive trend in broadband Internet growth is expected to remain in place as the operator plans to raise this number by another 36% to 736,000 subscribers. 

According to deputy general director and commercial director of UTK Ruslan Tanashev, in line with telecommunications market trends, the company began to actively implement its project for expanding broadband Internet access using FTTx technology around the end of 2009.  This work will continue in 2010.  Furthermore, subscribers will have the opportunity to receive the full range of telecom services with high-quality transmission and a speed of 4 Mbps, which is typical for this technology.  This will make it possible not only to provide high-quality traditional telecom services, but also other solutions which enjoy high demand, such as a large number of TV channels in HDTV format, video on demand, video-conferencing, etc.