Rostelecom is organising video surveillance for the Russian Federation’s Unified State Exam (USE) this summer – the series of exams that all Russian high school students must pass in order to gain a university place – in a R600 million deal with the federal education agency.

Rostelecom is using video servers in nine of its data centers across the Russian Federation and says that the project will also involve more than 5,000 employees.

Alla Shabelnikova, Russia and CIS analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media, explained that the exam, which is intended to make it easier for students from around the federation to enrol in top Russian universities, has been established for over ten years.

She said it has come in for criticism and accusations of cheating in the past, amid the suspicion that teachers were assisting students.

She said: “Rostelecom is realistically the only Russian company with the depth of infrastructure able to supply this kind of service on such a wide scale.”

Shabelnikova added that Rostelecom had implemented a video surveillance system to monitor voting in the Russian presidential elections in 2012, installing web cameras and computers in all polling stations in Russia.

This contract was worth over R10 billion to Rostelecom. “Most of the polling stations in Russia are in schools,” she said, “so Rostelecom will have the equipment in place already.”

Olga Rumyantseva, director of corporate and state client sales at Rostelecom said that the video surveillance system created for the general elections had proved effective.

“We are pleased that this system is in demand for such an important social project as the Unified State Exam,” she said.