“The digital revolution is underway, it requires not lax preparation but quick decisions, and we are ahead of schedule,” he said. According to Sklyar, as a result of modernization, all Russian citizens will be able to receive four TV channels – three federal channels and one local channel”, while “2 percent of settlements in Russia do not receive even Channel One now”. He noted that the implementation of this project, estimated at $42m, will “make the delivery of the signal much cheaper”.

The digital revolution affects not only TV and radio but also telephony, although on a restricted scale – only in Moscow, so far. On January 19, Moscow telephone workers began the reconstruction of the city’s telephone exchanges. After the reconstruction, all telephone users in Moscow will have eleven-digit phone numbers.

As new telephone codes are introduced, all Moscow users will get new telephone numbers. “This is the first step to introducing digital standards for the whole network,” says Mikhail Smirnov, General Director of the Moscow City Telephone Network. “Users will be notified in writing two months in advance before the commencement of work. Five days prior to the switching operation, all clients will be notified by phone, using a telephone answering system. In addition, they will all receive information sheets about new services of the digital network,” he said. According to plan, the reconstruction of telephone networks will last until 2010. By that time, Moscow is expected to fully shift to an 11-digit dialing system. According to the Moscow City Telephone Network, Moscow will be divided into two code zones (095 and 499).