The Crosna research and engineering enterprise in Moscow has started constructing its own satellite communication system. The system will include telephone, telex, facsimile and computer communications services. According to E Karpov, deputy director of the Crosna enterprise, he had received requests from state organisations in Austria, Hungary and Czechoslovakia on the possibilities of developing satellite communication systems with these countries. The Satrans joint venture enterprise was formed by Crosna and an Austrian firm to help facilitate this. Crosna was the first enterprise in the Soviet Union to start development of TV satellite receiving systems after 1989 when the Soviet authorities removed restrictions on information distribution on the territory of the USSR.
