Moodys Confirms Comstar and MGTS Ba3 Corporate Family Ratings

MOSCOW--(BUSINESS WIRE)--“COMSTAR – United TeleSystems” JSC (“Comstar” or “the Group”) (LSE: CMST.L), the largest integrated telecommunications provider in Moscow and 69 Russian cities, today announced that Moody's Investors Service has confirmed its "Ba3" corporate family ratings with a stable outlook for Comstar and its 55.73% owned subsidiary, Moscow City Telephone Network (“MGTS”).

Sergey Pridantsev, President and Chief Executive Officer of Comstar UTS, commented: “Moody’s ratings with a stable outlook once again prove that, even in the current challenging economic environment, Comstar manages to maintain its strong market position and demonstrate solid financial results. The ratings attest that we have been following the right strategy and have a stable platform for continued growth.”

Moody's Investors Service published its previous ratings assigned to Comstar and MGTS in June 2008.

For further information, please visit www.comstar-uts.com.

Comstar-UTS is the leading fixed-line telecommunications company in Moscow. Comstar provides voice, data, television and other value-added services to residential and corporate subscribers and operators, using its extensive backbone network and exclusive last mile access to 97% of Moscow households. The Company also offers communications services in five Russian regions, Armenia and Ukraine. Comstar had 3.6 million residential subscribers and 795 thousand residential broadband internet subscribers in Moscow, as well as 310 thousand residential regional and international broadband internet subscribers and 1.9 million residential regional pay-TV subscribers at the end of March 2009. Comstar generated US$ 334.4 million of revenues and a 37.8% OIBDA margin for the three months ended March 31, 2009. Comstar’s Global Depositary Receipts are listed on the London Stock Exchange (ticker: CMST).

Some of the information in this press release may contain projections or other forward-looking statements regarding future events or the future financial performance of Comstar UTS. You can identify forward looking statements by terms such as “expect,” “believe,” “anticipate,” “estimate,” “intend,” “will,” “could,” “may” or “might”, the negative of such terms or other similar expressions. Comstar UTS wishes to caution that these statements are only predictions, and that actual events or results may differ materially. Comstar UTS does not intend to update these statements to reflect events and circumstances occurring after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. Many factors could cause the actual results to differ materially from those contained in projections or forward-looking statements of Comstar UTS, including, among others, general economic conditions, the competitive environment, risks associated with operating in Russia, rapid technological and market change in the industries Comstar UTS operates in, as well as many other risks specifically related to Comstar UTS and its operations.

Comstar UTS
Masha Eliseeva
Tel: +7 985 997 0852
ir@comstar-uts.ru
or
Shared Value Limited
Matthew Hooper
Tel. +44 (0) 20 7321 5010
comstar@sharedvalue.net