Company History

MTU-Inform, one of Moscow's leading telecommunication companies and largest commercial telephone service providers, began operation in 1995.

In 1996-1997 the company established a high-performance SDH fiber-optic carrier network based on ECI Telecom equipment. The network now uniformly covers the entire city of Moscow, and its high bandwidth makes it one of Europe's best carrier networks for cities. Based on the SDH carrier network a wide range of telecommunication overlay networks was implemented: telephone and intelligent networks, Internet access (MTU-Online), data transmission network, and cable TV.

Since 1997 MTU-Inform has provided Internet access. In October 1997 a ground-based trans-Atlantic channel with 2048-KBps throughput was initiated.

In March 1998 the company announced the startup of a data transmission network based on the its digital carrier network. The project was implemented using Newbridge equipment; it may be used for data transmission, including speech, for linking local area networks (LANs), and for implementation of various interactive multimedia and other services.

In September 1998 MTU-Inform launched a third ground-based trans-Atlantic (Montreal-Moscow) fiber-optic channel with 2-Mbps throughput. Overall throughput of the international channel to the Internet is 6 Mbps.

In November 1999 the company connected to the global Internet telephony system ITXC.net. This allowed the company to offer subscribers attractive international phone rates.

Since 1999 MTU-Inform has collaborated with major Moscow construction firms and has provided digital telephone communication, continuous Internet access, and cable TV (including various satellite channels) to residents of new buildings. Partners include Don-Stroy, NPP Tema, M-Variant, and other major construction firms.

In May 2000 the company expanded the data transmission network by constructing 30 additional nodes. The network now has more than 100 points of presence in Moscow.

In 2000 MTU-Inform offered a service package new to the Russian market: the Logic Line, which is based on the company's intelligent telephone network. This network allows not only connection between two subscribers of the general-use telephone network, but also development of any scenarios for processing phone calls.

In November 2000 the company launched the cable TV network in the Kuntsevo residential project. Tenants were given access to 16 Ostankino broadcast channels and a constantly increasing number of foreign satellite TV channels.

In August 2001 MTU-Inform introduced a new service: Internet connection using HomePNA technology. This technology is used primarily in projects related to combined communication services for residential buildings in and around Moscow.

In 2002 modernization of the peripheral ring of MTU-Inform's SDH fiber-optic carrier network in the Northwest district was completed, increasing network throughput to 2.5 Gbps. This modernization was necessitated by the extensive development of high-end residential housing and business-class housing in this area. The network modernization project allowed introduction of TV signal transmission technology through SDL channels in digital form, a technology new to Russia.