MTU-Inform, the leading network operator in Moscow, announced the opening of a new channel for access to the international Internet network with the capacity of 45 mb/s. The channel is being offered by the company Teleglobe. It is linked to the combined support network of the largest Internet providers in Moscow Ð MTU-Inform, MTU-Intel, and PTT Teleport Moscow, which are holdings of System Telecom.

At the end of the last year MTU-Inform and PTT-Teleport Moscow signed an inter-operator agreement for the mutual exchange of transport network services and the creation of a universal backbone IP-network, combining the outer international and Russian Internet-channels of the company. From the moment of the signing of this agreement, the volume of traffic of both companies has increased significantly, which is connected to the sharp growth in demand for MTU-InformÕs dial-up Internet services and the increase in the number of subscriptions to the project Tochka.Ru. In connection with this, the necessity of introducing new and more powerful ways of transmitting international Internet traffic has come to a head. This is why the channel DS-3 was put into service. It can handle 45 mb/s and connects Russia (Moscow) with the US (New York). This backbone channel not only satisfies the current needs of Internet providers, but also provides a specific amount of surplus in capacity for the international exchange of traffic.

"The current agreement is directed at the creation of the necessary infrastructure to service new customers. Right now, the number of dial-up Internet subscribers doubles each year. This forces us to think more and more about the perspectives of developing our business," the general director of MTU-Inform, Said Alimbekov, said.

In turn, the general director of PTT-Teleport Moscow, Nikolai Repin, emphasized: "The introduction of a new international channel will allow us to provide our customers with a higher quality of service, as well as to keep our practice from 1997 of transmitting international traffic without overbooking. At the present moment we are expanding the backbone capacities of the network in order to service three thousand ADSL- subscribers with the project Tochka.Ru during the course of 2001. In addition, this step will allow us to offer wider Internet network resources for newly connected subscribers.