OREANDA-NEWS. October 14, 2010. COMSTAR – United TeleSystems (COMSTAR-UTS, LSE: CMST), the leading provider of integrated telecommunication services in Russia and the CIS, announces the launch of the COMSTAR-FON service for MGTS subscribers.

On October 1, MGTS expanded the family of ADSL modems that are leased to its subscribers. In addition to ZTE ZXDSL 831Cll and Huawei EchoLife HG-510а, now the company offers ZTE ZXV W300 that comes with built-in Wi-Fi and supports COMSTAR-FON. MGTS subscribers are offered leasing contracts for as low as 11 rubles a month, i.e. the same cost as in case of all other modems. This offer is only for the users who subscribed to the Internet by MGTS with monthly plans for the first time.

COMSTAR-FON is the Russian segment of FON, a global social Wi-Fi network that includes Web users from the whole world. Having leased a ZTE ZXV W300 ADSL modem, MGTS users can sing up at www.fon.com and become members of the global FON community. Registered members can connect to each other’s access points and any FON access points abroad for free. Moreover, they allow other registered members connecting to their modems through a dedicated COMSTAR-FON guest Wi-Fi channel.

“Recently, Moscow COMSTAR-FON network has reached the number of 20,000 hot spots. With the launch of the COMSTAR-FON service in the MGTS network, we expect significant growth of the FON subscriber base in Moscow and the Russian segment of the FON network in general. Exponential increase in the number of users in Russia and globally proves the ever-growing interest in this community. We are sure that this service will be very popular with new subscribers of Internet by MGTS,” Maxim Chernov, COMSTAR-UTS Marketing Director, says.

“The COMSTAR-FON service for MGTS subscribers drives significant expansion of the network coverage and brings closer its commercial launch for all users. The next step will be deployment of FON functionality in MTS STREAM converged products in Moscow,” Evgeny Koryagin, head of FON Wireless in Russia, notes.

Nikita Brodsky, MGTS Deputy CEO, Commercial Director, says: “Growth of smartphone, tablet PC, and notebook markets encourages subscribers’ interest in Wi-Fi technologies. That is why we offer Wi-Fi enabled modems to all users who subscribe to Internet services starting from October 1. This new modem is unique with its built-in FON connectivity.”

At the end of 2008, COMSTAR-UTS and FON Wireless Limited jointly launched a Wi-Fi-based wireless broadband service for subscribers of STREAM, the largest ISP in Moscow . Now this service is also available to MGTS users who subscribe to the Internet by MGTS service. Today, the FON network has over 2 million active users throughout the world. COMSTAR-FON in Russia has already reached the number of 20,000 subscribers.

The subscriber can activate or deactivate the FON service anytime by updating modem settings.