Moscow, Russia– March 13, 2012 – Rostelecom OJSC (MICEX - RTS: RTKM, RTKMP; OTCQX: ROSYY) (“the Company”), Russia’s national telecommunications operator, today announces that Rostelecom set up a video surveillance system to monitor the voting process during the Russian Presidential elections as part of contracts awarded by the Ministry of Communications of Russia. Under the agreed scope of work, the Company collected and stored live video records, provided access to a data-communication network, and also organised the Internet transmission of live voting station videos during the Presidential elections on March 4, 2012. The video surveillance operation was solely executed by Rostelecom and over 90 thousand polling stations were equipped with video surveillance systems. The value of the contract amounted to RUB 13 billion.

Rostelecom’s subsidiaries and business units displayed enormous commitment and close cooperation to successfully complete a project that was unprecedented in terms of its scale and rigid timeframe. The contract provided Rostelecom with the perfect opportunity to demonstrate its skills and expertise, and as well as increasing the capacity of its backbone network and its data centres, the Company also developed a powerful platform to transmit video signals across the country.

The Company intends to use the infrastructure established at the polling stations to provide similar services for the Central Election Commission during regional parliamentary elections and for municipal elections. The equipment and infrastructure may be utilised as a security system in schools, where most of the polling stations were located, or they could provide the ability to implement a distance learning system. Rostelecom has already started developing a so-called “School of the Future” project, and will launch a range of new on-line services for secondary schools, as well as a unique system of education content. 

Alexander Provotorov, President of Rostelecom, commented: “The project presented many challenges due to its complexity and tight timeframe. We however are delighted to have been awarded such an important contract, the largest yet in our industry, and we are pleased to have successfully completed it. Plans were already in place to partially upgrade our infrastructure earlier this year, and the project conveniently fitted-in with our own capital investments plans for this year. Considering the explosive growth in video traffic, the platform we developed to distribute video signals across Russia, will provide Rostelecom with further revenue growth opportunities over the coming years.”