NEC Corp has won a deal with Russia’s central bank valued at $25m. The company says the contract is for a satellite communication system to transmit bank settlement data between its head office in Moscow and 340 branch offices. Two large relay stations will be installed at the Moscow base, and each of the branches will get a relay terminal. The installation will begin in June, and should go live by the fourth quarter this year. The deal pales into insignificance alongside the company’s $270m contract from Hong Kong Telecommunications Ltd for equipment for a digital multimedia cable service, announced last November (CI No 3,050).