"The presentation was part of a meeting between the Omsk Region governor Leonid Polezhayev and Svyasinvest General Director Valery Yashin," a local administration official said.
NGN technology is a blend of the Internet and phone networks. It allows the users to use phone lines to make regular calls, browse the Web, receive regular and pay-by-demand TV programming, and send or receive data.
At the meeting, the development of telecommunications in the region, including the introduction of NGN, were among the main issues on the agenda, the official said, adding that the new technology had already been made available to more than 6,000 residents of the city.
Sibirtelecom (RTS ticker: ENCO) is the third largest of seven supra-regional traditional fixed-line telecom operators in Russia in terms of installed capacity (with 3.4 million access lines in use) and revenues. Its area of operations covers about 29% of Russia's territory (4, 944,300 square kilometers) and 14% of its population (20, 900,100 people).
The company is integrated in Russia's state-run telecommunications giant, Svyazinvest, which is expected to be privatized this year.
Uralsvyazinform (RTS ticker: URSIG), which is also part of Svyazinvest, was the first company in Russia to build a commercial mobile network based on NGN technology in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg.
