Transcript of the beginning of the meeting:

Vladimir Putin: Mr Shchegolev, we have discussed the need to provide high-quality nationwide broadcasts of major sporting events. I'm referring to the 2013 Universiade in Kazan and the 2014 Olympics in Sochi. You asked for the funds required for equipment purchases and organisational work to be allocated. These decisions have been made and the money has been allocated. How is the work going?

Igor Shchegolev: Mr Putin, I would like to thank you for this timely decision making. All of the organisational prerequisites for this project are now in place. We expect this to be a major project not only for the nationwide broadcasting of sporting events but also for the major modernisation of the Russian television industry's technological base. Television experts still remember how the 1980 Olympics were a catalyst for production capabilities and Russian television coasted along thanks to this for many years.

Now, with the transition to digital television, we of course need to provide not only a high-quality signal everywhere, but also the opportunity to create television that is globally competitive.

Vladimir Putin: So we purchase mobile television stations. Then what do we do with them?

Igor Shchegolev: This was incidentally one of our key decisions. Initially, if you remember, we planned to build stationary centres, but it was reminiscing about the Olympic legacy in particular that led us to a fundamentally different decision. Otherwise, we would have needed to build a stationary centre in Kazan for the Universiade and something similar in Vladivostok in time for the APEC summit. Now, with this mobile system, we are finalising our decisions on what to do with the equipment after the Olympics, since these mobile units enable us to film events and broadcast from anywhere in the country. That is what their mobility means, and we're counting on using these very same resources in Kazan and partially, if as seems likely the supplies arrive and the personnel are trained in time, in Vladivostok.

Vladimir Putin: When will this structure be established and when will it be ready to operate?

Igor Shchegolev: It is already operational. It is expected that at the first stage, it will comprise 50 people; there are currently 15 people on staff and assembly of the team is ongoing. Thanks to a government resolution, we are already able to start funding and announce tenders. In other words, we hold that all the organisational prerequisites are in place. In the coming months, it will be fully manned and will be able to devote itself entirely to the task at hand. If you remember, it will be responsible for negotiations on the rights to our nationwide broadcast of the 2014 Olympics.

And what's very important is that we plan to train experts to operate this equipment not only in Sochi and Moscow, but across the entire country. This means that we will not have to worry about these people subsequently finding employment.

Vladimir Putin: When will it be operational?

Igor Shchegolev: We think that by this autumn it will be fully operational, and by summer all the procedures needed for seeing this project to fruition will be in place.

Vladimir Putin: Good. Now let's talk a little bit about a different field. What progress has been made on communications?

Igor Shchegolev: Regarding the Svyazinvest telecommunications holding company, we have devoted quite a long time to this company. It is currently being reorganised. The financials for 2009 and the first quarter of 2010 are impressive. Net profit was considerably up and operational efficiency was secured. This means that revenue growth has overtaken the rise in operating costs.

The investment programme for 2010 will already be considerably larger that that of 2009. Although 2009 was a crisis year, investment continued, revenue continued to flow and profits were assured. Now there will be a transition to a new investment programme in the most advanced technologies in order to provide the population with internet access at good speeds and reasonable prices.

One of these figures could be questionable from a market point of view: that of reduced revenue per customer. But this is precisely because the company reduced internet access charges.

Now since the population of Russia expects rates to be comparable across the entire country, the company has decided to introduce a so-called social rate. It will be fixed. It will not provide high-speed internet access, but it will nevertheless provide access to information and government services, to webpages primarily containing information in text form. Access to video information and more complex services will require additional payment, but those who need basic information will have access to it at reasonable rates.

The company is tasked with keeping this between 250-500 roubles per month. This is comparable with what has been observed in such large urban centres as Moscow and St. Petersburg. The Far East is for the moment a little behind, and it cannot offer such rates within the current structure. But after unification, and we should be able to resolve all the legal aspects of this within a year due to internal company changes, we will have the opportunity to achieve reduced rates for internet access in the Far East.

Vladimir Putin: Good. By the way, we had special plans for the Far East, broadcasting programmes. How are they being implemented?

Igor Shchegolev: Yes, work is underway. You and I have seen the first reports on how they are operating. Both design and construction work is in progress. And the same kind of construction is in progress on the other end of our country, in Kaliningrad.

Initially, this region was not included in the first stage of this construction of a digital television network, but the regional authorities showed initiative and rendered organisational and financial assistance to this programme. There, as early as this summer, we will be able to launch it in exactly the same way: public channels which Russian viewers will be able to watch in digital quality.

Incidentally, Kaliningrad has a solid manufacturing basis for television tuners and television converter boxes. We're counting on this to become a model region, one of the first to have the large-scale integration of digital television.

Vladimir Putin: And when will people in the Far East be able to watch digital TV?

Igor Shchegolev: Those places we visited in the Far East are already watching in digital. But on the whole, in the first stage we...

Vladimir Putin: Where construction is underway, when will these facilities be commissioned?

Igor Shchegolev: Some facilities in a number of regions will be commissioned by the end of this year. On the whole, we are counting on being able to complete the Far East and its entire border area by 2012.

Vladimir Putin: Good. And the last question. I asked you to ensure that veterans from the Great Patriotic War were provided with free telephone installation, in conjunction with the 65th anniversary of Victory. We need to provide this service to the veterans who have signed up for it since March 2005. What progress has been made in installing phones in their flats?

Igor Shchegolev: Yes, we are working intensively on this. This includes sorting through the lists of people who signed up for telephone installation, and we will first serve those veterans who have not received new housing, and who continue to live in their present flats. Since the beginning of the year, over 2,500 veterans have had telephones installed. Those who were to receive phones after our conversation had them installed for free. Those who had already had phones installed will be reimbursed before the end of the year.

Vladimir Putin: How will you reimburse these funds? By offsetting their phone bills or direct reimbursement?

Igor Shchegolev: There are several combined plans for doing this, but the basic one is offsetting bills.

Vladimir Putin: Good.