The subject of this cycle consisting of three articles is the analysis of credit risks that Russian telecommunication companies faced before the global economic crisis of 2008-2009. The first article proves the importance of this kind of analysis for the understanding of concentration and centralization processes that has been taking place in this industry within the last 10-15 years. Therein we formulated the goal of the research and the methodology of analysis, as well as chose the models for the express-evaluation of credit risks based on the use of financial ratios. A reliable assessment of solvency of the telecommunication companies as potentially big credit users is interesting not only for the banks, but also for credit rating agencies, business partners, as well as for the management and owners of the companies themselves.