Chelyabinsk region is characterized with high development of information and communications technologies. The region is among the top ten in Russian Federation by a number of development indices, such as digitalization level, volume of introduced new technologies, Internet services. Nowadays Chelyabinsk region has achieved 100%- digitalization of local primary net. All the towns and district centers of Chelyabinsk region are provided with automatic long-distance service. The technical resources render possible to provide users with practically any modern communication service. 

The volume of communication services in 2005 is estimated at 8894.3 mln rubles, which is 13.8% more than in the previous year.

As of 01.01.2006 the number of basic telephone sets or those that can connect to the communal network, came to be 836.9 thousand and grew 7% in a year. The number of basic telephone sets provided to the public pop grew 7.3%. 

On 01.01.2006 the number of installed multiuse pay telephones with card system of payment came to be 3.2 thousand, which is 28% more than in the beginning of 2005. Now are being modernized pay telephones that had been tuned to accept just one type of cards. In 2005 already 1373 phones have been tuned to accept all the types of pay telephones cards sold in the retail chain of Chelyabinsk.   

In 2005 the telephone network of Chelyabinsk was transferred into seven-digital system of numeration, and a new reply service"0-09" was introduced, which provides reference data about organizations based on incomplete information.

By now united communication medium of Chelyabinsk region has been created on the basis of a segment of “Transtelekom” company’s magistral optical fiber communication line. The network covers a better part of Chelyabinsk region and comes through not just major population centers but can allocate communication channels to practically each station of the South Urals Railways.  Over that communication line it is possible to transmit almost 30 thousand communication channels.

Last years services of provision of cellular transmission are being spread more and more widely. The major cellular transmission operators on the territory of Chelyabinsk region in GSM standard in the beginning of 2006 are: Chelyabinsk division of Interregional filial of cellular transmission of OJSC “Uralsvyazinform”, OJSC “Mobile TeleSystems” (MTS), CJSC “Urals GSM” (“Megaphone”), OJSC “Vympelkom” (Beeline GSM),    TELE2; in IS-95 (CDMA) standard – OJSC “Uralsvyazinform”.