Russian telco North-West Telecom (N.W.Telecom) has started full-scale operation of its IPTV service 'Avangard TV' in the Republic of Komi, which has become the fourth region within Russia's North-Western Federal District where the service is available.

Avangard TV is already available in St. Petersburg, Novgorod Oblast and Kaliningrad Oblast, and currently has around 12,000 customers.  The service offers over 60 Russian and international broadcast channels, a video-on-demand library, nPVR features, catch-up TV and the ability to restart a programme at any time during broadcast.

“IPTV has made assured steps from the Northern Capital to the Regions," said Oleg Popov, Associate General Manager and Commercial Manager of N.W.Telecom.  "We have been able to achieve this regional expansion primarily due to our ramified network infrastructure, which is our great competitive advantage. The plans of N.W.Telecom for the next year include further active promotion of the Avangard TV service, and the start of testing of the high-definition TV service on the basis of the PON technology, which we are actively developing in St. Petersburg and are implementing in the regions."

North-West Telecom launched Avangard TV in St. Petersburg in December 2007.