September 12, 2005 Fitch Ratings, the international rating agency, has assigned JSC North-West Telecom ("NWT") ratings of Senior Unsecured foreign currency 'B+' with a Stable Outlook and Short-term foreign currency 'B'.

The ratings reflect Fitch's expectation that NWT are:

 - well placed to maintain its dominant market position as a regional incumbent telecom operator;

 - well diversified company's client base a relatively stable and predictable operating cash flow;

 - the highest operating efficiency among Russian telecom operators that allow to save on salary costs and support profitability.

Fitch Ratings analytics notes: ”Fitch's rating for NWT takes into account moderately relative debt ratios of the Company. For example net debt/EBITDA ratio of 1.7x and net debt/funds from operations of 2.4x at end. It is the least leveraged incumbent telecom operator in Russia.”

More detailed you can find on the web-site Fitch Ratings: https://www.fitchratings.com/corporate/index.cfm

Up the present moment North-West Telecom has only one credit rating by Standard and Poor’s.