17/12/2003   PeterStar On Friendly Terms with Katrina

As early as October the residents of Vassilievski Island – Katrine’s customers will be able to simultaneously make calls, work in the Internet and watch TV while staying at home. Due to a new project of PeterStar and Katrine high-speed Internet access is provided using a TV cable. Telephone lines remain non-busy, and an access rate is ensured of up to 2 Mbps. The monthly rental for Internet access services is from USD2.

Convenient payment system is an additional innovation of this project. Now, to pay for communication cable and TV services it is just enough to purchase a PeterStar Multicard for 5, 10, 25 or 40 units, which is exactly a common means of payment.

”Telecasting integration with other services using cable TV networks is an economic solution. In the advanced countries there are tens of services advertised by different companies. Some of them such as continuous video observation of children in school classrooms and yards seem to be fantastic. For the moment we are implementing the integration of two services – TV and Internet - within a single cable TV network, and additionally – international and national telephony at moderate prices.” – says Alexander Bogdanov, General Director of ZAO Katrine.

The project with Katrine is a pilot project of PeterStar, so far covering the residents of Vassilievski Island. Later on PeterStar is planning to cooperate with cable TV operators in other districts of the city.

This project of PeterStar and Katrine is being implemented using a broadband hybrid fiber-coax (HFC) network combing by a digital stream of 100 Mbps the resources of the PeterStar fiber network and the Katrine cable network. .

”All over the world “Internet and IP Telephony over Cable TV” is a very promising technology. Fiber networks for TV signal transmitting are a powerful and reliable resource for the provision of the “last mile” solution. Cooperation between communication operators and cable TV operators gives customers extra services and advantages.” – says Victor Koresh, General Director of ZAO PeterStar.

17/12/2003   PeterStar Starts a New Exchange

PeterStar has installed and tested a new digital switch AXE-10 of the leading world manufacturer Ericsson. This is the first new-generation exchange ÀÕÅ-10 in Russia. It is planned that the exchange will have been put into operation until by end of next year.

Financial investment in the new switch construction and the creation of an infrastructure for the switch has exceeded USD1m. This is the second AXE-10 switch for PeterStar. The first switch was launched in the beginning of 2001 in Ligovski Prospect. The second one is located in the new PeterStar communication center in Bolshoi Prospect of Vassilievski Island.

The installed ÀÕÅ-10 is a powerful backbone and transit exchange allowing the connection of both communication operators and customers. According to the General Director of PeterStar Victor Koresh, having launched this new digital switching system PeterStar will be able to optimize customer traffic streams and network resources, as well as improving the level of its reservation.

The new exchange has been installed within the scope of a complex program on PeterStar communication network modernizing. During the current year there was allocated for this purpose USD15m. According to the program PeterStar expanded the capacity of its transport network up to the maximum volumes (the STM-64 level), laid over 400 km of fiber cables, constructed an IP-based backbone network, deployed wireless broadband access systems, and put into operation an IP-telephony node. Concurrently the company introduced a new Integrated Network Management System.

«This year we have prepared a serious reserve for several years in the future due to investing approx. 30% of revenue in the network technical development. This ensured that the company optimized the structure of its network, improved its capacity and survivability. This year arrangements will allow the company to go ahead with confidence, as well as forming a stable marketing policy for the near 5 years.” – says the Deputy General Director of PeterStar Eugene Andreev.