Moscow: Cellular operators have promised to ensure uninterrupted mobile communication for all users on the New Year night. The mobile base stations are much overloaded in the first two hours of the New Year.

"On the New Year the total number of calls increases 2.5 times as compared with usual days," said Head of the MTS mobile operator in the Moscow region Sergei Beshev.

"For instance, on the night of January 1,2007 our subscribers made 57 million calls and sent over seven million text messages. We expect the number of calls to grow by 20 per cent to 71 million on this New Year night," Beshev said.

The official noted that ahead of the holiday the company has been working to increase the cellular network capacity. "If some failures occur, they will be local and will be removed in the short run," the MTS representative promised.

"With every year the load on the network on the New Year night increases by almost 10 per cent," said officials of the VimpelCom company. He said special brigades will be on duty on the New Year night to cope with possible contingencies. They will be monitoring the condition of the network and promptly liquidating any malfunctions, he added.

Representatives of the MegaFon mobile operator have also promised that their equipment "is fully ready for overloads on the New Year night." The city's largest fixed-line telephone operator - Moscow City Telephone Network (MGTS) for its part guaranteed uninterrupted work of telephones for all its subscribers on the New Year night. "Unlike mobile operators, we have our signal transmitted by wires," the MGTS officials said.

Source : PTI