Moscow Electrosvyaz (merged with Center Telecom)

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Moscow Electrosvyaz (currently CenterTelecom Moscow branch) is the main local telecommunications service provider for the Moscow oblast in Central Russia (except the city of Moscow). It is also the base telecommunications operator in Moscow region. The company supports the regional telecommunications infrastructure and provides other regional providers with access to the national PSTN. In 1993 Russian local telecommunications network operators were partially privatized and AO Moscow Electrosvyaz was established in June 1994. In 1995, Svyazinvest, a holding company which consolidated the government stakes in all of the 85 regional telecommunication companies, was created. After the formation of Svyazinvest it held 38 percent of the common shares and 51 percent of the voting shares in AO Moscow Electrosvyaz. From June 2001, AO Moscow Electrosvyaz has assumed the name of JSC CenterTelecom (Joint Stock Central Telecommunications Company). In the course of the telecommunications industry restructuring during 2000-2002 Svyazinvest created seven large telecom companies in Russia's macro-regions by consolidating 74 local operators. As a result of reorganization, the property and personnel of regional operators was transferred to corresponding regional branches: Center Telecom, North-West Telecom, Volga Telecom, South Telecom, Uralsvyazinform, Siberia Telecom and Far East Telecom (Dalsvyaz). JSC CenterTelecom became the base company in the process of consolidation of 16 regional providers in central Russia and it became a Moscow branch of the mega-regional company JSC Central Telecommunication Company in November 2002. The Moscow branch is the second largest company in terms of revenue and the third largest company in terms of the number of subscriber lines among Svyazinvest holding enterprises. The 16 companies that were removed from the state register and renamed into branches of JSC "Center Telecom" were: Belsvyaz, Bryansksvyazinform, Voronezhsvyazinform, Ivtelecom, Lipetskelectrosvyaz, Smolensksvyazinform, Tambov Elektrosvyaz, Tulatelecom, Vladimir Region Elektrosvyaz, Kaluga Region Elektrosvyaz, Kostroma Region Elektrosvyaz, Kursk Region Elektrosvyaz, Oryol Region Elektrosvyaz, Ryazan Region Elektrosvyaz, Tver Region Elektrosvyaz, and Yartelecom. Starting from 2003 became a branch of Center Telecom.