TAdviser Interview: The Minister of Telecom and Mass Communications N. Nikiforov about perspectives of electronic state services, import substitution and a state cloud

Alexander Levashov, Chief Editor of TAdviser: In May, 2012 the president signed a number of the decrees which in many respects defined activity of the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications for five years ahead. What problems of the top level could become reference points of the ministry on the following five-years period?

Nikolai Nikiforov: Activity of the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications has technology character, it is possible to estimate our work with absolutely specific indicators, such as development of broadband access, a population scope this service at the infrastructure level about which I said in the speech. A quarter of all base stations already works in format 4G LTE though as of May, 2012 such format just was not available in the Russian market. And such indicators characterizing activity of the Ministry it is possible to bring much. So, for today we effectively process more than one million international sendings a day that gives huge opportunities for development of electronic trading, we develop digital TV and radio broadcasting and many other things. It seems to me that the Digital Economy program - not about communication and not about programmers, its main task - the economic growth, additional competitive advantages for our country in international market, and in this context the technology tasks solved by us – only bricks for growth of economy. Both politicians, and business as even business competes in global market more and more today, but not inside understand it. We extract ore, we process it into metal, we do mechanical engineering products, we export. And the same treats other industries – financial, health care, education. We will never be able to raise the standard of living of citizens if we are not competitive at the global level. And it is impossible without implementation of digital technologies.

Alexander Levashov: Following question more provocative. Recently German Gref told that business and, in particular, banks, are capable to render public services in electronic form too. And if there is a regulatory base, Sberbank is ready to offer the platform for rendering state services which will be on indicators a cut above existing. How do you consider, banks are capable to render public services in electronic form? What perspective of similar initiatives?

Nikolai Nikiforov: If banks are ready to work as the front office, as one more channel of interaction with citizens, then, of course, it is possible. But the model of multichannel interaction of the state and citizens should rely on the basic systems – SIEI, a Unified identification and authentication system providing the solution of national objectives of identification of the citizen and the organization of legally significant electronic interaction. As for directly Sberbank, it is one of drivers of real digital transformation in the Russian financial market. Use of artificial intelligence technologies provides it achievement of profitability, gives the chance to compete on capitalization level in the European market. It would be very desirable that installation on digitalization of business was adopted at Sberbank and by other Russian enterprises. By the way, this bank – one of the largest employers in the IT industry, in it thousands of engineers, developers so in many respects it is the IT company, but not just financial structure with traditional understanding of bank service – cash desks, offices and so on work.

Alexander Levashov: For the last 8 years big infrastructure of the electronic government, including SIEI, the uniform portal of state services, a Unified identification and authentication system and other subsystems is created. What will become the next serious technology stage in development of the electronic government?

Nikolai Nikiforov: Would not like to disappoint anybody, but it seems to me that the rutinization of process of providing and receiving public services that, actually, and occurs already today should become the next stage. Electronic services of the state get into daily practice of interaction of the citizen and the state. Process of providing service should work like clock-work, develop on the basis of the most modern technologies, enter life of those people who have no access to information technologies yet. The gap between regions – leaders and lagging behind still big and it needs to be reduced. A big problem - a nedofinansirovannost of this sphere. Despite the drama growth of number of users of infrastructure of the electronic government, expenses of the federal budget remained at the previous level. And here we or should recognize that it is a certain public and private project of the state and Rostelecom as Rostelecom performs functions of the technical operator today, or to make the decision that it is one of classical state information systems and means of taxpayers should be spent for its development and maintenance. It is a big fork which the government did not pass yet, the decision on this question still should be made.

Alexander Levashov: Each region created the portal of state services, and let them also be integrated by the general system of identification, but interfaces, the user experience - different. What, in your opinion, with them will 7 – 10 years there be in the long term?

Nikolai Nikiforov: The management system for the state according to the legislation assumes three levels – federal, regional and municipal, it is necessary to remember it. Regarding implementation of some services centralization is justified and happened, but to offer models according to which everything would be strictly centralized, senselessly. In zero years regional portals actively developed as EPGU was weak, it did not correspond to the actual level of ambitions of regions and demand for electronic services from the population. Today we have the worthy portal which tens of millions of our citizens use. Perhaps, it is a reason for regions to refuse the portals for benefit of federal model, but there is a question of financing. And again we return to the question, the system of the public electronic services in general on what model how exactly should be financed. If financing went from the federal budget, for many regions it would become the powerful reason to give a part of electronic services and services on federal level, having released means under other projects. Now, having passed to the federal portal, the region will receive the invoice for payment of services from Rostelecom, and it is a question of economic feasibility and efficiency of use of the budget. I think, this fork between two scenarios of development of infrastructure of the electronic government in a funding plan – public and private partnership or full public financing - should be passed in a new political cycle. But there will always be 5 – 10 regions which will continue to invest actively in own regional systems, just because on them specific regional processes. And in it there is no contradiction, and it is the normal, balanced approach to development of public administration. The main thing that it was convenient to citizens.

Alexander Levashov: To import substitution policy the fourth year went, but big projects, at the level of the ministries and departments, are still not enough, they can be counted on fingers. When will time of large-scale, serious import substitution come? And whether will come?

Nikolai Nikiforov: When our colleagues from the USA accept the next package of sanctions and in the ministries everything will be disconnected, then time for large-scale, serious import substitution will come... And in this joke there is only a joke share. The disappointment is present at this question also at me, it was openly told about it, in particular, and at the Sochi forum. The Ministry of Agriculture receives from the state 240 billion rubles of subsidies annually, we became first-ever on production of grain, and the volume of target subsidies for development of IT or financing of projects of import substitution still zero. There are also objective obstacles – labor input of process of migration, rearrangement of information systems.

At the same time projects of import substitution go also them quite a lot. The share of domestic software in purchases grew from 20 – 30% in 2014 to 60 - 70% in 2018. And all new large projects go the way import substitution, there are practically no proprietary foreign products.

We, of course, against sanctions stories in the field of IT and monopolies, for the competition, speak about it with colleagues within BRICS. So it developed that for today in a world IT ecosystem everything is monopolized in terms of the system software. In particular - the market of OS for smartphones. In the world of only 0.1% of smartphones with OS not the Apple iOS and not on Android. And it is huge threat for citizens of the countries which are not entering into the NATO alliance as it is the uncontrollable environment, loading of the unclear closed components. Nobody knows what there occurs. The whole world will take a lot of grief from the fact that we have such level of monopolization of OS of mobile devices, it is one of the main threats of global information stability. Naturally, we against current situation. Any company or the country should not control any niche of the system software more than for 50%. We support that the countries of BRICS integrated in respect of resources, developers, customers and were made alternative by softwares. In the register of domestic software there is OS today for the smartphone which historical roots in Finland, but for today on the status and upon it the controlled Russian development certified by FSB and FSTEC. It would be desirable to make so that this development became the platform for creation of mobile OS within BRICS at least for a public sector. Thus, calls in respect of import substitution face today not only Russia, but also all international community.

Alexander Levashov: Question on infrastructure. Several years the so-called state cloud as a certain uniform computing IT infrastructure at the federal level is discussed, but it is still absent. Still there are even no legislative bases for its creation, as far as I understand. Whether there will be a state cloud in the long term? When? Or maybe, you decided not it to create?

Nikolai Nikiforov: This problem has a normative component, but it is, in my opinion, not key. The main problem has technology character as there is still no set of the Russian solutions of the system software completed and certified by FSTEC and FSB – OS, DBMS, the systems of virtualization. And it is necessary that two were presented at the market – three players for the purpose of providing price competition. The competition - it is extremely important. As for the most state cloud, actually its local implementations already are. In same Rostelecom, for example, there are definitely configured storage systems, server computing powers with the preset and configured IT solutions used by these or those state customers.

Artur Kuzyakov, entrepreneur: You call for active participation, joint work. What actions should the entrepreneur in practice make to take part in digitalization and development of IT in the country?

Nikolai Nikiforov: I will try to answer briefly. If you have any idea or a product which, in your opinion, can be applied to digitalization of the Russian economy, in any its sphere, for example – veterinary science, but at normative level there is prohibition or it is necessary to select, figuratively speaking, certain radio frequencies in order that the digital veterinary science earned within the concept of Internet of Things, with it and it is necessary to come to Competence Centers. All information on work of Competence Centers can be found in the Internet, but it is necessary to formulate with what you go for this large construction of digital economy of Russia.

Artur Kuzyakov: Information on the website of the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications?

Nikolai Nikiforov: The special structure - ANO Tsifrovaya ekonomika is created, on its website all information on digitalization is generalized. But it is better to ask Alexey Kozyrev, he has a maximum of information on this question.

Artur Kuzyakov: Let's assume, we addressed to Competence Center. What our further actions? With which of representatives of the state do we communicate?

Nikolai Nikiforov: Just well the fact that you communicate not with representatives of the state, and with colleagues. With them you uphold the position and approve the general approach and the specific actions plan. A problem of the state to help, to make so that these plans were implemented. The help can be expressed in correcting some law or other regulation, some very little money can be selected to urge on some technology development and further to trace that all work was performed, implementation took place.

Mikhail Spirenko, President-Hotel: All state organizations will compulsorily pass to Russian software …

Nikolai Nikiforov: Lie, nobody forces. All decisions made in this context rather soft. There is no tough prohibition on purchase of foreign software, just the procurement procedure became more difficult, to you inconvenient questions will be set, the antimonopoly service can cancel tenders.

Mikhail Spirenko: Many so-called Russian developments are based on foreign distribution kits – the same Astra Linux, Rosa on Red Hat. Why it is impossible to grant the right to the state organizations to use world assemblies of the free software, but not the Russian developments?

Nikolai Nikiforov: There is no prohibition on use of world assemblies of the free software, it is possible to use.

Ilya Verigin, ELAR corporation: One of our own developments, with narrow specialization, there software and the iron – the scanner which we already began to export to BRICS countries. Whether there are mechanisms of support from the state to the Russian products in respect of promotion for export?

Nikolai Nikiforov: You watch the website of the Russian Export Center (REC), a good set of schemes of support of export of the Russian developments is collected by them. It is unclear, however, as far as these schemes of support are suitable for the IT company as usually it is about export of products of mechanical engineering, agricultural products. It would be desirable to receive a feedback. As for additional demand on domestic software, included in the register of the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications, according to the statistics of state procurements of software, the companies received additional contracts for the amount by rough estimates about 5 billion rubles a year.

Ekaterina Ulanova, Integrat company: Whether the register of the Russian software has perspectives? Registration of new software – three months, it is a lot of for such industry as development of software. Answers to questions according to the procedure, the regulations are just the formal reply and any actions …

Nikolai Nikiforov: We will deal with it, it is accepted. We will punish guilty persons, worthy we will award.

Marina Anshina, SODIT: System, architectural approach is very important for digital transformation of economy. For example, in the USA in 1996 the relevant act was adopted. We have something similar at the state level to analyze the offered projects from the point of view of put in it architecture of model and proofs of their efficiency?

Nikolai Nikiforov: We now only approach this question, it required the due level of political support. Because when we speak about architecture, the analysis, it means decision making which to someone "will step on a tail" in terms of distribution of IT budgets, adoption of system solutions on the basis of the approved architectural approaches. These are always the difficult things requiring political support which we have in terms of the adopted Digital Economy program for today. It is convinced that in the long term it will affect also acceptance of more system architectural approach. I think, it will be a task of already new government.