Nortel Helps Comstar Connect Millions of People Across Russia

Nortel’s Carrier VoIP Network Supporting Huge Volumes of Comstar’s Long-Distance Voice Traffic Across the Country.

MOSCOW – Comstar United TeleSystems (COMSTAR-UTS OJSC, LSE: CMST), a major operator of integrated telecommunications services in Russia and the CIS, has implemented a VoIP network solution from Nortel* [NYSE/TSX: NT ] to help accommodate the need for reliable, affordable long-distance VoIP across the entire Russian Federation. Comstar obtained its long-distance access area codes for Russia in July 2008 and has begun commercial operations of long-distance voice services.

Russia is the largest country in the world spanning more than an eighth of the Earth’s land area. In a country of this size, affordable communications – especially long-distance communications – is important to stay connected with friends and family. With the new Carrier VoIP network from Nortel, Comstar can provide affordable, long-distance VoIP across all regions of the Russian Federation including Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Samara, Rostov-na-Donu, Vladivostok and other regional centres.

Sergey Pridantsev, president and chief executive officer of Comstar UTS, commented, “The provision of these access codes will enable us to launch our long distance service offering and become a multi-service operator. This integrated offering is a key competitive advantage for Comstar. We will be able to provide local, inter-zonal, inter-city and international telephony services, as well as broadband Internet access, IPTV services and other data transmission related solutions. The launch of a long-distance network will also accelerate our development in the Russian regions.”

“The complete Nortel’s Carrier VoIP solution delivered to Comstar supports the exponential growth in demand for a new era of communications being driven by Hyperconnectivity , a global trend where anything and everything is being connected to the network,” said Sorin Lupu, president, Eastern Europe Markets, Nortel. “To address this huge demand for services, operators like Comstar have chosen Nortel’s complete Carrier VoIP solutions that converge voice, video and data services onto one network while improving quality of service and reducing costs. Now, Comstar has a network capable of connecting Russian citizens across the country with far more affordable long distance rates.”

Comstar’s VoIP network is built on the Nortel Communication Server (CS) 2000 , an IP multimedia softswitch that delivers network infrastructure services and supports a wide range of voice and multimedia features based on the open, industry-standard SIP protocol. CS 2000 is part of Nortel carrier multimedia network portfolio which also delivers application oriented solutions for carriers such as IP Powered Business serving enterprise and SMB subscribers as well as IP Powered Home serving the residential mass market. According to Dell’Oro Group, Nortel is the worldwide leader in carrier VoIP and has maintained that position for the last six years (2002-2007). Nortel has shipped 88 million carrier IP voice and multimedia ports to approximately 300 carriers globally.