The System X digital telephone exchange is to become a much bigger presence in Moscow following agreement between GEC Plessey Telecommunications Ltd and Comstar, its joint venture with the Moscow City Telephone Network. According to the Interfax news agency the effort will be funded by an $83m British government credit that is part of a $400m loan package finalised between Russia and the UK last month during a London visit by the Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Shokhin. The project is intended to add 100,000 new lines to the Moscow telephone exchange over the next three years. According to the news agency, there are currently 100,000 people waiting for telephones in the Russian capital, which has a population of some 10m.
