MTU-Inform company is introducing a new product to the market - telephone "MAXIcard". The card provides access to international and domestic long-distance communication and has unique operation capabilities compared to existing products on the market.

The service is implemented on the basis of MTU-Inform company's intelligent network, which enables digital quality of communication, flexibility and ease of handling, independent service management by the user. For the first time a card product measures up to the corporate user service level, providing capabilities of operations on the account, programming of the required call and dialing sequence scripts, creation and editing of a personal phone book, authorizing trusted persons to access the service.

"We estimate that the telephone card market will read about $50 million in 2003", - says Said Alimbekov, General Director of MTU-Inform. "Today's market is a "battlefield" of many players, offering services of differing quality. We believe the time has come for major telecommunication carriers to enter this market".

It is expected that by the middle of 2004 the monthly card sales will reach $500 thousand. The main goal of the company is to win at least 20% of the telephone card market in the first years of promotion of the product.

According to Mr. Alimbekov, to enter the mass user market, the company will leverage its experience in creation and promotion of Internet cards, launched about 5 years ago (that card project is now being implemented by the MTU-Intel company).

MTU-Inform further plans to implement services of roaming and access to information, reference, and entertainment resources.

The cards are issued in denominations of $5, $10, and $25. They will be widely available in May, 2003. A web-site has been launched for service management and user support: www.maxicard.ru.