OREANDA-NEWS. December 15, 2010. Rostelecom OJSC (“the Company”) (RTS, MICEX: RTKM, RTKMP; OTCQX: ROSYY), Russia’s national telecommunications operator, announced that Standard & Poor's Ratings Services has issued a report, stating that its “BB” long term corporate credit rating with “Stable” outlook for Rostelecom has been kept unchanged.

Standard & Poor's report states that: “The stable outlook reflects our expectation that Rostelecom will retain its leading position in the long-distance telecom service market, and will gradually increase the diversity of its revenue base and EBITDA. We also expect that the reorganization of Svyazinvest and the merger of its regional subsidiaries into Rostelecom will have no impact on the rating. While we understand that Rostelecom will assume the debt liabilities of the regional companies and might need to raise additional debt, we believe the contribution of the resilient revenue and cash flow base of the regional operators will mitigate this risk.”

"BB" Rating

Standard & Poor's long-term credit rating "BB" confirms that an issuer is less vulnerable in the near-term but faces major ongoing uncertainties to adverse business, financial and economic conditions.