Comstar United TeleSystems, an operator of integrated telecommunications services in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) has announced that it picked Nortel's (News - Alert) VoIP network solution to provide reliable, affordable long-distance VoIP across the entire Russian Federation. The company has begun commercial operations of long-distance voice services, which got its long-distance access area codes for Russia in July.

 

JSC Comstar-United TeleSystems is a fixed-line telecommunications company in Moscow. The company provides voice, data, Internet, pay-TV and other value-added services to residential and corporate subscribers and operators, using its extensive backbone network and exclusive last mile access to 97 percent of Moscow households.

 

The new carrier VoIP network from Nortel will enable Comstar to offer 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.

 

Based on the Nortel Communication Server (CS) 2000, an IP multimedia softswitch, Comstar's VoIP network will support a wide range of voice and multimedia features based on the open, industry-standard SIP protocol.

 

Nortel carrier multimedia network portfolio delivers application oriented solutions for carriers. The solutions include IP Powered Business serving enterprise and SMB subscribers, and IP Powered Home serving the residential mass market. Nortel CS 2000 is part of the portfolio.

 

Sergey Pridantsev, president and chief executive officer of Comstar UTS said that the provision of these access codes will enable the company to launch its long distance service offering and become a multi-service operator.

 

Pridantsev noted that this integrated offering is a key competitive advantage for Comstar, as the company will now be able to provide local, inter-zonal, inter-city and international telephony services, as well as broadband Internet access, IPTV (News - Alert) services and other data transmission related solutions.

 

Sorin Lupu, president of Eastern Europe Markets at Nortel commented that the complete 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.

 

Lupo added that after deploying Nortel's complete Carrier VoIP solutions Comstar will now become capable of connecting Russian citizens across the country with far more affordable long distance rates.