The Ural mechanical plant has built the first automatic 1,000-number telephone exchange ordered by the Ekaterinburg city telephone network. The station was assembled under licence using technology and components from Iskra, the former Jugoslav electronics company, which is now Slovenian. The price for the exchange is 80m roubles and 80% of the numbers on the exchange will be sold by the phone company by issuing R 50,000 bonds. A further 30 numbers will be sold at auction. A new phone company department has been set up called the information networks management. Its task will be to register new computer networks and ensure that they conformity to the city network. At present the department has registered three networks – Relcom, UralVES and Infotel. The Ekaterinburg city telephone company is considering the creation of a joint-stock company with the Ural electromechanical plant and Iskra which will work on the development of communications systems. The estimated cost of the project is put at 150m roubles.
