Cellular communication (Russian market)

Coverage area

2024

The Ministry of Digital Development of the Russian Federation has developed new rules for the provision of mobile communications services to Russians and foreigners

On September 13, 2024, the Russian Ministry of Digital Development announced new rules for the provision of mobile communications services. We are talking, in particular, about confirming the identity when concluding an agreement for cellular services.

The document says that Russians will be able to confirm their identity in several ways: using a certification document and the Public services portal, through an organization authorized by the government, if a citizen is not registered for Public services, as well as through biometrics. Only one option is provided for foreign citizens - biometrics.

Ministry of Digital Development of the Russian Federation approved new rules for the provision of mobile communications services

Operators are required to check previously concluded contracts for Russians until November 1, 2025, and for foreigners until July 1, 2025. Restrictions are set on the number of SIM cards that a subscriber can have - no more than 20 numbers for Russians and no more than 10 for foreigners.

If subscribers do not reduce their number during the transition period, mobile services will be suspended for all numbers. Foreigners who already use Russian SIM cards will need to undergo biometrics identity identification during the transition period, the Ministry of Digital Development said.

The changes, according to the agency, are aimed at improving security and convenience for all subscribers, as well as to combat fraud and illegal SIM cards. Payment for communication services in cash will be possible in government-authorized organizations only when confirming the identity of the payer using an identity document or through "Public services."

When a subscriber makes cash payments for mobile radiotelephone services, organizations that have received funds are obliged to provide information about the payer to the telecom operator, containing the type, series (if any) and number of the identity document, the new rules say.[1]

The Ministry of Digital Development estimated at 3 billion rubles the costs of operators for the transmission of data in GIS KSIM

The total expenses of Russian mobile operators for the transfer of data on their subscribers to the new system of Roskomnadzor will amount to more than ₽3 billion. This information was published in the draft resolution of the Ministry of Digital Development, which was published on the portal in early September 2024 regulation.gov.ru. Read more here.

Foreigners in Russia were banned from buying SIM cards without providing biometrics

On July 30, 2024, the State Duma of the Russian Federation adopted a law according to which foreign citizens will be able to purchase SIM cards in Russia only if biometrics are provided. At the same time, no more than 10 subscriber numbers can be issued per person.

It is noted that the documents presented by foreigners when concluding contracts for the provision of cellular services often do not allow correctly identifying their identity. This "creates prerequisites for illegal activities using subscriber numbers issued for foreigners." In accordance with the adopted law, foreigners will be able to conclude a service contract only when visiting the office of a telecom operator in person and subject to mandatory identification using biometric data. At the same time, the previous identification procedure (according to the passport) remains for individuals - diplomats and representatives of international organizations.

In July 2024, the State Duma limited the issuance of SIM cards

In addition, the law provides that with foreign subscribers who have concluded contracts for the provision of mobile radiotelephone services before the adoption of new requirements, operators need to renegotiate contracts by March 1, 2025. In this case, in case of failure to comply with the relevant requirements, the operator is obliged to stop the provision of communication services.

For Russian citizens, a restriction on ownership of no more than 20 subscriber numbers is introduced. Users will be able to Public services find out through the portal "" exactly how many numbers are issued for them, and, if necessary, suspend their service. According to the authors of the initiative, these changes will help in the fight against fraud. The law prohibits calls and messages from unfamiliar numbers in. messengers Owners of blogs and channels with more than 10 thousand subscribers will be required to transfer information about themselves in. The Roskomnadzor^[2] is^[3]

Russia adopted a law restricting the sale of SIM cards to foreigners

On June 19, 2024, deputies of the State Duma of the Russian Federation adopted a bill to restrict the sale of SIM cards to foreigners. The document was developed in order to "streamline the relationship" between telecom operators and subscribers, including foreign citizens and stateless persons.

The bill is designed to strengthen the security of citizens of the Russian Federation and reduce opportunities for committing fraudulent actions and other crimes using mobile communications. It is noted that the identity cards presented by foreigners when concluding contracts for the provision of communication services often do not contain information in Russian and do not correspond to the form usual for employees of mobile operators. This situation complicates, and sometimes does not allow the correct identification of foreigners. As a result, "prerequisites for illegal activities are created using subscriber numbers issued for foreigners."

Sale of SIM cards to foreigners will be limited

In accordance with the new requirements, the conclusion of an agreement on the provision of mobile radiotelephone services with foreigners is allowed only when visiting the office or point of sale of telecom operators/dealers in person and when passing identification and (or) authentication using biometric personal data. Plus, a prerequisite is established for the inclusion in contracts for foreigners of the identification code of the device used (IMEI). No more than 10 subscriber numbers may be issued to a foreign citizen or stateless person.

The bill also provides for the mandatory notification of the subscriber through the State Public services portal about all numbers registered on it and about the conclusion of new agreements on the provision of communication services. In this case, the subscriber is given the right to suspend the provision of communication services under contracts that he did not conclude.^[4]"

Foreigners will not be able to purchase more than 10 SIM-cards of Russian operators per passport

In Russia, new restrictions will be introduced on the purchase of SIM-cards by foreign citizens: they will not be able to purchase more than 10 SIM-cards for one passport, according to amendments to the law "On Communications" submitted to the State Duma on June 13, 2024. The bill was presented by deputies Anton Gorelkin and Vasily Piskarev from the United Russia party.

The amendments also require telecom operators to include a unique device code (IMEI) in agreements on the provision of communication services with foreign citizens. If the bill is passed, these changes will come into force on November 1, 2024. As the deputies clarified, the agreements concluded before the entry into force of the law must be updated by March 1, 2025, otherwise the service of such numbers will be terminated.

New restrictions on the purchase of SIM cards by foreign citizens will be introduced in Russia

According to Anton Gorelkin, a new section "My SIM-cards" will appear on the portal of state and municipal services "Public services," where citizens will be able to see all the numbers issued for their passport data. This will allow an audit of subscriber numbers with the involvement of subscribers themselves and strengthen security, the deputy noted in his Telegram channel.

These changes are caused by numerous cases of fraud with the registration of SIM cards on forged documents. According to Gorelkin, Russians will be able not only to receive information about the numbers issued for their passports, but also to stop servicing unused numbers through their personal account at Public services.

Earlier, in April 2024, Ministry of Digital Development also proposed a bill according to which foreigners will be able to purchase SIM-cards of Russian operators only if they have registration on the public services portal using biometrics and when personally visiting communication salons. This requirement does not apply to diplomats, representatives of international organizations and refugees. A Ministry of Digital Development spokesman declined to comment on the bills.

According to experts interviewed by Vedomosti, a limit of 10 SIM cards per operator is a logical step, since currently SIM cards can be purchased without presenting a passport, which contributes to an increase in the number of spam calls and illegal actions. Kuskov noted that the new measure should reduce these negative phenomena.^[5]

Roads in Russia will be covered with high-quality mobile communications

At the end of May 2024, a bill was submitted to the State Duma of the Russian Federation aimed at covering sections along highways with high-quality mobile communications and Internet access. The proposed measures are expected to give impetus to the development of cellular infrastructure on highways and in small settlements located nearby.

The President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin , in his message to the Federal Assembly at the end of February 2024, announced that the conditions for the use of digital systems should be created not only in megacities, but also in small towns, rural areas and remote areas, along federal and regional highways, as well as local roads. To do this, according to the head, states it is necessary to provide access to high-speed to the Internet almost throughout the territory. Russia

A bill has been submitted to the State Duma of the Russian Federation aimed at covering sections along roads with high-quality mobile communications

The authors of the new bill note that as of May 2024, federal highways are covered by GSM networks by almost 90%, while coverage by LTE networks varies from 54% to 75%. In the case of regional roads, coverage by communication networks of various generations is at the level of 20-40%. The problem is especially relevant for the regions of Siberia and the Far East.

The bill provides for the possibility of placing communication structures (taking into account the permissible dimensions) within the boundaries of the right-of-way of roads. In addition, it is proposed to exclude legal uncertainty by establishing in the law "On Communications" that the construction, operation, overhaul, as well as the transfer of communication lines and communication structures within the boundaries of right-of-way roads is carried out in accordance with the legislation on urban planning, taking into account the peculiarities provided for by the legislation on roads. The document also intends to establish for the road sphere the general principle of working with telecom operators when transferring communication lines, removing the possibility when the owner of the road, for the construction of which the lines need to be moved, not only transfers communication facilities, but also requires money from the operator for this.^[6]

How LTE and 5G networks will develop in Russia. Ministry of Digital Development plans

The creation of infrastructure for 5G networks in Russian cities with a population of more than 1 million residents is planned by 2028, and in cities with a population of 500 thousand people - by 2030. This is stated in the report of the head of the Ministry of Digital Economy Maksut Shadayev to the meeting of the working group of the State Council on the digital economy (held at the end of April 2024).

The document emphasizes that one of the mandatory conditions for creating infrastructure for fifth-generation communication networks is the use of equipment only of Russian serial production.

The creation of infrastructure for 5G networks in Russian cities with a population of more than 1 million residents is planned by 2028

Shadayev's presentation also announces plans for the development of LTE networks. It is expected that the corresponding infrastructure will be created in small cities of Russia (with a population of 100 people) by 2030. This task is planned to be implemented at the expense of deductions from telecommunications operators.

In cities where from 1 thousand people live, the launch of fourth-generation mobile networks is scheduled for 2026, and along federal roads - by 2031.

The document also says that as part of the development of wireless broadband access (broadband broadband) to the Internet, six spacecraft are planned to be launched by 2026. It is assumed that by 2030 the satellite constellation providing broadband access access in low orbits will number 737 spacecraft.

Earlier, Maksut Shadayev said that the active deployment of 5G networks at domestic base stations will begin in large cities of the Russian Federation from 2026. Preparatory work to launch the networks is expected to take place in 2025. Answering a question about plans to deploy 6G networks, the head of the Ministry of Digital Development noted that the issue is being worked out, in 2024 research and development work should begin.

Meeting of the State Council Working Group on the Digital Economy

The Ministry of Digital Development of the Russian Federation introduces fines of up to 2 million rubles for violations in the provision of communication services to foreigners

On May 2, 2024, the Ministry of Digital Development of the Russian Federation announced a bill introducing fines for violating the requirements for the provision of mobile communications services to foreigners and stateless persons. The amount of penalties can reach 2 million rubles.

The agency proposes to supplement Art. 13.29 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation (Failure to comply with the requirements established by the legislation of the Russian Federation in the field of communications to conclude agreements on the provision of communication services) with additional clauses. Administrative liability of telecom operators or persons acting on behalf of operators is introduced for violation of the rules for the provision of mobile radiotelephone services by foreign citizens and stateless persons.

The Ministry of Digital Development of the Russian Federation announced a bill on the introduction of fines for violation of the requirements for the provision of mobile services to foreigners

The document provides for the imposition of fines on officials in the amount of 100 thousand to 200 thousand rubles, on legal entities - from 1 million to 2 million rubles. In addition, the bill introduces certain changes of a legal and technical nature to other provisions of the Administrative Code in order to establish the specified composition of the administrative offense.

It is proposed to empower officials of Roskomnadzor to draw up protocols and consider cases of administrative offenses. It is emphasized that the bill will not entail negative socio-economic, financial and other consequences, including for subjects of entrepreneurial and other economic activity. The document corresponds to the provisions of the Treaty on the Eurasian Economic Union, as well as the provisions of other international treaties of the Russian Federation.

The bill does not contain requirements that are related to the implementation of entrepreneurial and other economic activities and the assessment of compliance with which is carried out within the framework of state control (supervision), municipal control, bringing to administrative responsibility, granting licenses and other permits, accreditation, product conformity assessment, other forms of assessment and expertise.^[7]

Telecom operators at the request of Roskomnadzor block 300 thousand gray SIM-cards weekly

Cellular companies, at the request of Roskomnadzor, block 300 thousand gray SIM cards weekly. This became known at the end of April 2024.

All this is happening as part of the fight against the gray SIM card market, which began last [2023]. Now the process of interaction with Roskomnadzor has been set up, everything has been put on stream, - Kommersant quotes a source in a large telecom operator.

Cellular companies, at the request of Roskomnadzor, block 300 thousand gray SIM cards weekly

According to the interlocutor of the publication, until the fall of 2023, Roskomnadzor once a week sent operators lists of numbers for which you need to check subscriber data. After that, the operators sent the information back, the department checked their relevance according to their data and sent a list of numbers with incorrect data for blocking. Now the service sends lists immediately for blocking, "everything is put on stream," the informant told the newspaper.

At the same time, operators warn subscribers that they have 15 days to update the data. However, not all customers do this - many subscribers turn to communication salons to restore numbers after blocking. Tele2 reported that most of the checks are related to the expired client's passport, which it did not warn the operator about.

According to an analyst on the telecommunications Telegram channel abloud62 Aleksei Boyko, it will not be possible to completely clear the market of gray SIM cards, but you can bring it to indicators above 95 percent with long efforts. To do this, you need state control over operators, and operators - over dealers, and changes in legislation, the expert believes.

Alexey Slukin, editor of the specialized Telegram channel Telekommunalka, adheres to the same point of view. According to him, SIM-card locks "will complicate the schemes of the gray market, but will not be able to completely close it."^[8]

Ministry of Digital Development will prohibit fraudsters from transferring funds through SIM cards

On April 11, 2024, it became known that the Ministry of Digital Development of the Russian Federation developed a bill according to which mobile operators will be required to block the possibility of withdrawing funds through SIM cards for those subscribers suspected of fraud. In addition, the same measures can be taken when revealing the inaccuracy of information about the subscriber.

According to the Kommersant newspaper, the Ministry of Digital Development is discussing the new rules with Rosfinmonitoring. As of April 2024, subscribers have the ability to withdraw funds from an account linked to a SIM card, even if bank accounts are seized. The fact is that operator accounts do not fall under the regulation of the Bank of Russia. At the same time, companies allow subscribers not only to transfer funds within their ecosystem, but also to completely withdraw them, including receiving cash. This is actively used by attackers who transfer stolen funds to the subscriber phone numbers of various cellular operators, and then withdraw them.

Ministry of Digital Development of the Russian Federation has developed a bill according to which mobile operators will be required to block the possibility of withdrawing funds through SIM-cards

The new rules provide that money in accounts will be blocked already as part of the pre-investigation check. In addition, the document stipulates the possibility of suspending the provision of communication services. The operator may make such a decision if "in the personal account of the subscriber after the arrest or suspension of operations, the amount of funds will be insufficient to provide communication services."

Tele2 notes that the bill involves "blocking a specific amount in an advance payment, in respect of which a resolution is issued as part of a pre-investigation check," and the blocking itself is valid for ten days. At the same time, blocking will occur "by order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs." It is also emphasized that operators will have the right, and not the obligation to suspend the provision of communication services.^[9]

Roskomnadzor will check information about foreign cellular subscribers

At the end of March 2024, it became known that the Main Radio Frequency Center (GRCC), subordinate to Roskomnadzor, intends to verify information about subscribers of cellular networks who are foreign citizens. It is planned to carry out an inspection through the SIM card control system.

According to the Kommersant newspaper, since the summer of 2023, domestic operators have been transferring data on their customers to the SIM card status control system (KSIM). In total, in 2023, information was sent about 351 million numbers, of which various violations were identified in the case of 43 million. At the same time, from September to December 2023, operators stopped providing services for more than 600 thousand numbers with unidentified owners. Moreover, the termination of service can be carried out without prior notification of the subscriber.

GRCC intends to check information about subscribers of cellular networks who are foreign citizens

KSIM checks the data received from operators with state information systems and sends the results of the audit to Roskomnadzor. However, in the case of foreigners, the procedure is difficult, since information about such subscribers is not available in Russian databases. This is used by fraudsters and illegal call centers.

Alexey Slukin, editor of the specialized Telegram channel Telekommunalka, says that SIM cards issued for foreigners are a "gray area that is difficult to identify." The fact is that the only way to check is to provide a physical passport. It is said that during 2025, the GRCC expects to check information about 85% of subscribers - foreign citizens.

It is more difficult for a foreigner to participate in checking his data, he is unlikely to be present on the Public services or has an enhanced qualified electronic signature, so to confirm the relevance of the data, only the option of a personal visit to the operator's salon remains, which is far from always convenient, says an analyst at the Telegram channel abloud62 Aleksei Boyko.[10]

About 60% of the routes in Russia are not provided with high-speed communication. Bill designed to fix it referred to government

In Russia, only about 40% of federal highways are provided with high-speed communications. Such an assessment at the end of February 2024 was given by the first deputy chairman of the Federation Council committee on constitutional legislation and state construction Irina Rukavishnikova^[11]

A bill was prepared in the Federation Council that makes it possible to simplify the process of both administrative and technological to provide roads with high-quality communication and high-quality Internet. It is about eliminating inaccuracies that are contained in the current legislation. Now in the right-of-way of roads it is possible to place exclusively engineering structures, and terminologically, cell towers do not belong to them. The bill is intended to address this gap.

After the document is adopted, there should be no obstacles to placing cell towers along the roads in the right-of-way, Irina Rukavishnikova believes.

Moreover, technical requirements have been developed for cell towers that are planned to be installed along highways. So, for example, they must meet increased safety criteria. At the same time, road owners and mobile operators themselves are ready for such activities, the senator said.

The elimination of the legislative gap will speed up the equipment of federal highways with towers, the Federation Council expects

There is a great demand for high-quality affordable communication among the population - among people who use highways and residents of nearby settlements, to which the signal will also apply.

As of the end of February, the bill is on recall in the government. The Federation Council expects that the relevant ministries will support it, after which it will be possible to submit a document to the State Duma. After the adoption of the bill, the speed of equipping the tracks will depend on the actions of the performers on the ground. The Ministry of Transport has a plan for equipping specific routes .

German Klimenko, head of the council of the Digital Economy Development Fund, believes that perhaps the project to equip highways with towers will require additional subsidies from the state, because the smaller the settlement and the greater the distance between settlements, the more costly the history. Who will bear all these costs, he wonders. At the same time, there are no estimates yet how economically profitable this project will be.

Recall that the story of communication coverage of all federal highways dates back to 2012, when the corresponding decree was issued. Later, this was included in the Digital Economy national program: one hundred percent cellular coverage of all federal roads was assumed by 2024. However, at the beginning of 2021, it was decided to abolish state subsidies for these works, and in 2022 the terms of the requirement for telecom operators to provide federal roads with mobile communications were shifted, taking into account the current situation. The Ministry of Digital Development expressed the expectation that operators will fulfill this requirement by 2025.

The Governor of the Pskov Region proposed ways to reduce the influence of "NATO stations" on communication near the borders of Russia

At a meeting in the Federation Council (Federation Council) on January 31, 2024, dedicated to the development of infrastructure in the field of communications in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, the issue of the quality of communications in the border regions, which are subject to the signal of foreign operators, was raised. This situation is observed, for example, in the Pechora district of the Pskov region. In the area, the subscriber is immediately "intercepted" by the mobile operator of Estonia, said Andrei Turchak, First Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council, Chairman of the Council for the Development of the Digital Economy at the Federation Council. There, in his opinion, stations with an amplified signal should be installed.

At a meeting in the Federation Council on January 31. From left to right: Governor of the Pskov Region Mikhail Vedernikov, President of Rostelecom Mikhail Oseevsky, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko

Andrei Turchak proposes to develop and approve a separate procedure for implementing a program to eliminate digital inequality and information security in border areas.

The program already being implemented in Russia to eliminate digital inequality, which at this stage provides for the emergence of modern mobile communications, including high-speed Internet access, has had a great effect for the Pskov region. There are almost 6.5 thousand settlements in the region, most of which are small villages and villages. Over 5 years, the communication situation has improved greatly: in 2018, there were 150 base stations in small settlements, and to date, another 97 have been added to them, the regional governor Mikhail Vedernikov said at a meeting in the Federation Council. The coverage of these towers is about 26 thousand subscribers.

At the same time, there are some difficulties. One of them is connected by the governor of the Pskov region with sanitary rules in the field of electromagnetic radiation. In Russia, the permissible voltage limit of the electromagnetic field is 10 μW/cm ². It has not changed since 1964 or even longer. For example, in the United States and Europe, the permissible limit is 10 times higher.

This leads not only to the fact that our stations are significantly weaker than necessary and than possible, but also to the fact that our signal is tightly clogged in the border areas of NATO station. Well, an additional paradox: residents of border areas still receive radiation in full, but because of the towers that provide high-quality communication for residents of unfriendly states.

It is necessary to find an opportunity to revise the current sanitary standards at least in the countryside of the border areas, said Mikhail Vedernikov. The Pskov region is ready to act as a pilot region here.

The governor called the second factor in "interrupting" our signal by operators of unfriendly countries "unconditional execution on our part of all signed agreements on the use of frequencies in border areas." The implementation of these agreements is controlled by Roskomnadzor. Mikhail Vedernikov pointed out that European operators, in turn, "simply spat on these requirements and for a long time do not pay attention to them and do not comply."

According to him, in Pskov, 50 km from the border, under certain conditions, the signal of European operators is automatically caught, calls are made, people receive accounts that, however, can then be challenged, but for people this is an extra headache. And, accordingly, data transmission over the channels of unfriendly operators is used. And this is already a question not only of comfort, but also of safety, the governor added.

In our opinion, the right decision in this situation would be to suspend the implementation of agreements on the use of frequencies in border areas. You don't just need to wear such a clamp on yourself, especially since our neighbors unilaterally, if they didn't tear it up, they simply stopped fulfilling the requirements of the agreements, "Mikhail Vedernikov summed up. - If there are weighty reasons why it is impossible to do so, which we do not know about, at least then give instructions to Roskomnadzor not to fine for violation of this norm of our domestic operators.

The meeting in the Federation Council on January 31, dedicated to the development of infrastructure in the field of communications in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, was held with the participation of Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko, Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Transport and Transport Infrastructure Development Yevgeny Moskvichev, representatives of federal ministries and regions.

2023

How the mobile coverage area is growing in Russia

Coverage of mobile Internet and cellular communications in Russia as a whole in the second half of 2023 improved, despite sanctions and a shortage of equipment. This is evidenced by the data released in January 2024.

According to Izvestia, the Coverege Score coefficient, which Ookla calculates, grew in the second half of 2023 among all the largest cellular operators in the Russian Federation. So, at MegaFon, it increased by 4.3% compared to July-December 2022 (to 666). MTS has an indicator of 1% more (up to 571), Tele2 - by 23.5% (up to 541), VimpelCom - by 4.1% (up to 430).

When calculating Coverege Score, Ookla takes into account the general geography of the operator's network, as well as communication standards (2G, 3G, 4G), with which subscribers access the Internet. The share that the networks of a particular operator occupy in the total coverage of Russia by cellular networks is also taken into account. The maximum possible value of the coefficient is 1000.

According to Ookla's calculations, the average data download speed in Megafon, MTS, Tele2 and Beeline networks in the second half of 2023 was 29.5 Mbps, 24.6 Mbps, 19.2 Mbps and 25.8 Mbps, respectively.

Tele2 said that despite the shortage of telecom equipment, the company in January-September 2023 increased coverage with 4G networks (calculated from the total population of the Russian Federation) by 0.31%, 3G - by 0.09%, 2G networks - by 0.24%.

VimpelCom reported that in order to maintain quality characteristics, the company is conducting refarming (switching 4G to frequencies designed for older technologies), network optimization and point extensions. For example, in 2023, the operator put into operation a large number of base stations, conducted refarming in more than 30 regions of Russia, which made it possible to improve the quality of communication, expand the coverage area and increase the speed of the Internet, VimpelCom said^[12]

Increase in the number of base stations operated in Russia by 13.8% to 1.192 million units

At the end of 2023, MegaFon, MTS, VimpelCom and Tele2 jointly operated approximately 1.192 million electronic communications (RES) in Russia. This is 13.8% more compared to 2022, when their number was estimated at 1.047 million. Such figures are given in the study, the results of which were released on January 17, 2023.

By RES, the authors of the study mean base stations, access control systems, radio relay devices, etc. According to the Kommersant newspaper, despite Western sanctions and the departure of foreign suppliers of telecommunications equipment from Russia, the pace of development of cellular infrastructure has increased. So, in 2022, the number of RES increased in relation to 2021 by about 9.2%. The figure of 13.8% recorded in 2023, as noted, corresponds to the pre-crisis level. This may indicate stabilization of parallel imports.

Another reason for the improvement in dynamics may be that Russian operators are developing options for sharing networks - RAN-sharing. In this case, each of the equipment users registers their own RES, which leads to an increase in their total number. In addition, additional standards are launched at existing sites: part of the frequency spectrum is transferred from 2G/3G to 4G.

Experts also believe that domestic operators have begun to more actively commission their equipment reserves in anticipation of the emergence of domestic base stations. It is assumed that Russian analogues will become available "approximately in 2025" and "will enter the market in sufficient quantities." Before the crisis, operators in the Russian Federation installed a total of 70-100 thousand new base stations per year. At the same time, it is noted that domestic equipment will be more expensive than foreign equipment.^[13]

Roskomnadzor for the year blocked 600 thousand mobile numbers without reliable data of owners

Roskomnadzor in 2023 blocked 600 thousand mobile numbers without reliable data of the owners. The department told about this in January 2024.

According to Vedomosti, citing a representative of Roskomnadzor, a total of 43 million numbers containing violations were identified in 2023, of which 42 million numbers have already been submitted by operators. Operators continue to "carry out work on verification of information and updating subscriber databases," the source said.

Roskomnadzor also reported that in 2022-2023. the service, together with the Ministry of Internal Affairs, held about 200 events, during which more than 78,000 gray SIM cards were seized. The purpose of these raids is to suppress violations in the distribution of SIM cards without identifying the identity of the buyer.

According to the law "On Communications," the operator must independently check the accuracy of information about the owner of the telephone number before the start of the provision of services. The operator must confirm F.I.O. subscriber, date of birth and passport data. For the work of a SIM card without confirmed passport data, a company user may face a fine of 300 thousand to 2 million rubles.

Roskomnadzor is obliged to monitor the reliability of information about subscribers entered by telecom operators in its databases. To this end, the department has developed a special information system that automatically monitors the reliability of such data, the service told Vedomosti.

Experts interviewed by the publication gave several examples of how tens of millions of SIM-cards incorrectly issued appeared in Russia. Boris Edidin, deputy chairman of the commission on legal support of the digital economy of the Moscow branch of the Russian Bar Association, said that one of the options is cards that were issued for stolen, lost or expired documents. He also gave an example when a gigantic number of rooms were decorated for one person.^[14]

Telecom companies canceled LTE benefits. The released funds will be directed to communication in Chukotka and Yakutia

Telecommunications companies in Russia have canceled LTE benefits. This was announced on December 11, 2023 by the Minister of Finance Anton Siluanov. Read more here.

The Ministry of Digital Development of the Russian Federation will assess the increase in numbers with inaccurate data when checking cellular operators

On October 19, 2023, the Ministry of Digital Development of the Russian Federation published a draft order on amending the list of risk indicators for violation of mandatory requirements in the field of communications. We are talking about taking into account when checking cellular operators another parameter - the increase in telephone numbers, by which the reliability of the subscriber's data was not confirmed, by more than 40% per month.

In accordance with the Law "On Communications," operators are obliged to check the reliability of information about the subscriber provided when concluding contracts for the provision of services. Roskomnadzor is monitoring compliance with these requirements. If the reliability of the subscriber data is not confirmed, the regulator sends a request to the telecom operator, according to which he must correct the information or suspend the provision of communication services within 15 days.

Two parameters were initially included in the list of risk indicators. This is, in particular, the presence in the media or the Internet of information posted to promote paid communication services on the use of services for connecting telecommunication networks and traffic transit services in the absence of an operated network. According to the new document, the list is expanded.

Increase by more than 40% of the number of subscriber numbers specified in requests to telecom operators by the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, information technologies and mass communications, formed based on the results of monitoring the observance by telecom operators of the obligation to verify the reliability of information about the subscriber and information about users of communication services of a subscriber - a legal entity or an individual entrepreneur for one calendar month in a row compared to the previous calendar month, the Ministry of Digital Development says.

Thus, if Roskomnadzor finds that over the month the number of numbers with inaccurate data has increased by more than 40%, then this will be a sign of violation of mandatory requirements in the field of communication.^[15]

The government increased by 3 billion rubles state support for Yadro in the program for the production of base stations

The state will send additional funds to KNS Group (operating under the Yadro brand) to create domestic cellular base stations (BS). This was reported on September 26, 2023 by Vedomosti with reference to an explanatory note to the draft federal budget for 2024 and for the planning period 2025 and 2026. Read more here.

In Russia, services that lease virtual mobile numbers will be blocked

The Russian government decided to ban services that lease virtual mobile numbers (or DEF numbers), recognizing their use of such numbers as a threat to security in the field of communications and the Internet.^[16] government decree amends the Rules for centralized management of a public communication network. It is assumed that this ban will have a positive impact on reducing the number of scammers. The document will enter into force on September 1, 2024. Such information with TAdviser on September 22, 2023 was shared in the press service of the State Duma deputy RFAnton Nemkin.

The draft resolution was proposed by Roskomnadzor back in March 2023, arguing that the use of numbers "contributes to the use of communication services for illegal purposes" and violates the security of the Internet in Russia. "

As you know, attackers who use a temporary number for fraudulent actions often resort to renting virtual numbers. The temporary number allows you to create an account on social networks and instant messengers, with the help of which it is possible to disseminate illegal information and carry out fraudulent actions. According to the company "Informzaschita," in 57% of fraudulent shares were used virtual numbers. An example of using such numbers can be calls from banks that have become familiar, including through instant messengers.

Indeed, not real, but virtual DEF numbers that belong to a foreign telecom operator are common in fraudulent schemes, said Anton Nemkin, a member of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, Information Technology and Communications.

"For fraudsters in this case there are great advantages - the personal information of the owner of the number cannot be determined. In this regard, the implementation of illegal activities becomes much easier, a real person is almost impossible to detect. At the same time, the problem is aggravated by the fact that such numbers are rented out - that is, there is a change of users: today the number could be used by a fraudster, and tomorrow a law-abiding citizen, "explained Anton Nemkin.

At the same time, we are not talking about banning virtual numbers in general, but only their rental services, the deputy emphasized.

"According to the Bank of Russia, in 2022, fraudsters stole about 13, 4 billion rubles from the accounts of Russians, while the average amount of a fraudulent operation increased by almost a third. The problem of fraud on the network is growing, as is the fatigue of citizens from such actions. Therefore, the state needs to intensify participation in this problem. Such a measure is just an example of increasing state interest in solving the problem, "concluded Anton Nemkin.

Russian cellular operators lack 50 thousand base stations

On September 8, 2023, it became known that Russian cellular operators in the current geopolitical situation faced a shortage of base stations - the equipment is not enough for the full development of the communication infrastructure.

The Kommersant newspaper, referring to the data of Skoltech, reports that domestic telecom companies in 2023 alone lack approximately 50 thousand base stations. The shortage was formed due to the withdrawal from the Russian market of suppliers such as Nokia and Ericsson. To solve the problem, industry participants are testing Chinese third-tier equipment (outside the main suppliers represented by ZTE and Huawei), but such products do not meet the necessary criteria for stability and functionality.

The main reasons for the shortage remain a sharp increase in the cost of equipment and the cessation of official supplies. At the same time, a decrease in the share of capex in the revenue of operators indicates a long-term deterioration in the economic efficiency of their business, "said Alexander Sivolobov, deputy head of the Skoltech-based NTI Competence Center for Wireless Communications and the Internet of Things.

Some Chinese suppliers are ready to refine the equipment for the needs of Russian cellular operators. However, difficulties may arise due to the closeness of the systems of Chinese developers: such solutions are often incompatible with the equipment of other companies.

At the same time Ministry of Digital Development , the Russian Federation declares that "operators at the moment [by the beginning of September 2023] have enough stock of base stations to provide citizens with stable and high-quality communication." The presence of a stock of equipment is also indicated by MegaFon"," although this company "necessarily tests samples of all new vendors - both Russian and foreign." In, "" and the Tele2VimpelCom MTS situation is not commented on.^[17]

Russians for 3 years connected 3 million eSIM. Why the demand for such SIM cards has revived sharply

From the moment of the official launch of eSIM RUSSIAN FEDERATION in 2019 to July 2023, Russians connected about 3 million such SIM-cards, a third of which (1 million pieces) fell on the 12-month period July 2022 - July 2023. Such data "" Sheets were cited on August 24, 2023, citing sources in the telecom. More. here

Roskomnadzor counted 9 million SIM-cards with irrelevant data

On August 24, 2023, it became known that Roskomnadzor identified over 9 million SIM-cards with irrelevant personal data. If their owners do not confirm their identity, the cards will be blocked.

Mobile subscribers in Russia are required to provide operators with their passport data from June 2018. And since March 2023, fines for legal entities in the amount of 1 to 2 million rubles have been introduced for relevant violations. Roskomnadzor deployed a system for automated verification of subscriber data and from August 2023 began sending telecommunications companies requirements to block numbers with irrelevant or missing personal data. After receiving such a notification, the operator must adjust the information about the subscriber or stop his service within 15 days.

Roskomnadzor reported that as of the end of August 2023, Russian operators provided data on 270 million users, which is about 80% of their active subscriber base. Of the 9 million SIM-cards with irrelevant data of the company, information on 440 thousand subscribers was specified. Mobile Research Group analyst Eldar Murtazin believes that of all the identified problematic SIM cards, 7-8 million users will confirm their identity. In a negative scenario, up to 2.5 million subscribers may not want to disclose information about themselves.

According to experts, the losses of operators from disconnected SIM-cards will be insignificant - the number of subscribers "in the gray zone" does not exceed 2%. However, the problem is that SIM cards without identification continue to be sold in various public places, such as train stations.

There is a process of updating data, but people continue to connect using fake information. The check will reach them later, but for now they will be able to engage in illegal actions. It turns out that the number of gray SIM-cards is supported by further illegal sales, - says the head of TelecomDaily Denis Kuskov.[18]

Yadro received 3.5 billion rubles in subsidies for the development of base stations

Yadro received 3.5 billion rubles in subsidies for the development of base stations. This became known in early August 2023. Read more here.

Roskomnadzor began to block SIM cards with irrelevant data

Roskomnadzor began blocking SIM cards with irrelevant data, which became known on August 7, 2023.

According to Vedomosti, Roskomnadzor sends companies lists of numbers by which they must warn the subscriber about a possible blocking within three days. Then users have 15 days to update their data on the Public services portal, through the operator's application or in the communication salon. If this is not done, the number will be blocked according to the law "On Communication." At risk of blocking are corporate SIM cards and cards that are distributed on the streets without concluding contracts.

According to one of the sources of Vedomosti, each request sent by Roskomnadzor to operators contains about 50,000 numbers. If their owners do not confirm their full name, date of birth and passport data, then by mid-August the big four operators will have to block about 1 million SIM cards in total, the source said.

Roskomnadzor is obliged to monitor the reliability of information about subscribers entered by telecom operators into its databases. To this end, the department has developed a special information system that automatically monitors the reliability of such data, a representative of Roskomnadzor told Vedomosti.

The operator is obliged to confirm the name of the client, date of his birth, passport data. Such data can be provided both personally (in the communications salon) and through the Public services system or other state information systems, Alexandra Orekhovich, a teacher at the Moscow Digital School educational platform, explained to the newspaper.

Experts interviewed by the publication do not expect massive disconnections of communication among subscribers - most likely, SIM-cards will be blocked mainly among elderly citizens who, for objective reasons, cannot come to communication salons or carry out all operations via the Internet.^[19]

Since the beginning of the year, 251 base stations have been launched in the LPR, DPR, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions

In the first half of 2023, LPR DPR Zaporozhskaya Hersonskaya 251 base stations were launched in,, and regions, of which 107 are located in the liberated territories of the DPR, 106 in the settlements of the republic within the borders until February 2022. In the Kherson region, 28 base stations were launched, in Zaporozhskaya - 10. This was announced in July 2023 by the deputy director of the Donetsk telecom operator Phoenix Vladislav Trunov. More. here

GRCC creates a real-time communication quality control system

The State Radio Frequency Center (GRCC), subordinate to Roskomnadzor (RKN), creates a system for monitoring the quality of cellular networks in real time. This development became known at the end of May 2023. Read more here.

A cellular and satellite network is being created in Russia. Its construction is estimated at $10 billion

At the end of May 2023, the first information about the cellular and satellite communication network to be built in Russia became known. With its help, it will be possible to call, go online and watch TV in all corners of the country, including the Arctic.

As Izvestia writes with reference to the draft strategy for the development of the communications industry for 2024-2035, by 2030, a domestic constellation of low-orbit satellites should start operating in orbit, which allows you to access the Internet in certain regions, as well as transmit messages from mobile phones to emergency services if cellular communication is not available.

The document also assumes that a hybrid communication system will be created on the basis of this group by 2035, covering the entire country with the Internet and reserving television broadcasting, the newspaper writes. It is noted that these services will be available on highways, in the Arctic zone and on the Northern Sea Route.

By May 2023, the market does not yet smartphones have the usual small sizes for hybrid networks, the draft strategy says, but in 2022 over 15 companies expressed their intention to implement or continue work on cellular and satellite communication projects. These include, Globalstar SpaceX Elona Musk Chinese, BeiDou Canadian Telsat, etc. At the same time, at 14 USA iPhone it is already endowed with the function of receiving messages through Globalstar satellites, Sergei Pekhterev, a shareholder of Ka-Internet, reminded the publication in a commentary. The authors of the proposals also note that the volume of the satellite broadband market in the world by 2035 will increase by 28% to $292 billion per year.

According to Pekhterev, the deployment of even a relatively small constellation of low-orbit satellites (200-300 pieces) in 2020 prices required investments of $5-6 billion. The cost of building a global system with 1000-2000 devices can cost from $10 billion, the expert calculated.^[20]

In the LPR, DPR, Zaporizhzhya and Kherson regions began to install base stations for 22 billion rubles

The Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media of the Russian Federation has agreed on the installation of 400 base stations of cellular communication in the DPR until March 1, 2024. This became known on March 20, 2023. Read more here.

The Ministry of Digital Science was instructed to create a single mobile operator in the DPR, Ministry of Digital Development, Kherson and Zaporizhzhya regions

On February 10, 2023, it became known about the instructions given by the Government of the Russian Federation to create a single mobile operator in the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics, in the Zaporizhzhya and Kherson regions. The implementation of the project will be carried out by the Ministry of Digital Development, said Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko.

According to him, by February 10, 2023, work has already been organized to monitor the quality of mobile communications, and tariffs currently do not exceed the level of average Russian ones. At the same time, work is underway on the integration of communications and IT industries into the Russian legal field, the Deputy Prime Minister emphasized.

Thus, the growth of the digital industry and investment activity of new territories will be stimulated, he added.

In January 2023, the head of the Ministry of Digital Development Dmitry Kim suggested that the mobile operators MirTelecom and + 7Telecom, working in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhya regions, could enter the DPR market. Later, the Minister of Digital Development Maksut Shadayev said that those mobile operators who work in the regions will receive benefits until 2025.

Dmitry Kim in mid-January 2023 said that mobile communications from Russian operators operate in the territories of four new regions of Russia. In particular, Deputy Head of the Ministry of Digital Development noted, since December 13, 2022, MTS has been operating on the network of the Donetsk operator Phoenix. Kim stressed that the department continues to control the quality of communication services in four new regions of the Russian Federation.

In February 2023, Dmitry Chernyshenko clarified that telecom operators in the DPR, LPR, Kherson and Zaporizhzhya regions will be able to take advantage of all available state support measures. As an example, he called the reduction in the rate of property tax, land tax, rent for communication facilities, as well as a moratorium on inspections and licensing requirements for LTE.^[21]

Russian telecom operators switched to domestic technical support of equipment

On January 15, 2023, the Ministry of Digital Development, adopted three years earlier, began to operate in Russia, prohibiting telecom operators from applying for technical support for equipment to foreign and foreign-affiliated firms. Thus, Russian telecommunications companies should switch to domestic technical support services.

As Vedomosti writes with reference to this order, warranty and technical support, as well as the modernization of "the means of communication used, should be carried out by Russian legal entities that are not under the control of foreign legal entities and (or) individuals." In addition, the document imposes a ban on managing the infrastructure "from the territory of a foreign state," the publication points out.

Most of the operators interviewed by the newspaper said they were already working with Russian legal entities. For example, "" Rostelecom explained that Nokia Huawei Russian companies are engaged in technical support and modernization of equipment installed on networks. "" MegaFon also fulfills these requirements.

In early January 2023, Vedomosti sources close to the big four Russian operators spoke about the difficulties in interacting with Finnish Nokia and Swedish Ericsson. Earlier, both companies announced that from 2023 they would stop all operations with their Russian clients.

There will be no software updates. There will be no repairs. There will be no supply of spare parts, - said one of the sources of Vedomosti.

According to another interlocutor, 50-60% of the Russian cellular infrastructure is a bundle of Nokia - Ericsson. Thus, the publication noted, the dependence on foreign vendors is colossal, since both companies release a full cycle of telecom equipment and software for mobile networks.

The publication says that since the beginning of November 2022, Nokia has recommended that its customers apply for technical support to the Russian Telesystems Service LLC. Some of the employees from the Russian office of Nokia have already joined the staff of this company.^[22]

2022

Roskomnadzor: 156 thousand illegally distributed SIM cards seized during the year

The Federal Service for Supervision in the Field of Communications, Information Technologies and Mass Media (Roskomnadzor) in 2022 seized about 156 thousand illegally distributed SIM-cards against 90 thousand pieces a year earlier. Such data are presented in the report on the work of the department. The document was published at the end of August 2023.

According to the materials of Roskomnadzor, the largest number of SIM cards seized in 2022 belonged to:

• VimpelCom - - 77,717 units;
• MegaFon - 45,629;
• MTS - 28 140;
• Tele2 — 3430;
• other communication operators - 844.

According to the report of Roskomnadzor, 360 protocols on administrative offenses were drawn up against violators (in 2021 - 976). Most of the violations are related to the sale of SIM-cards without concluding an agreement and the presentation of an identity document by the buyer, as well as the conclusion of an agreement on the provision of communication services by an unauthorized person.

It is also reported that in 2022, during planned and unscheduled inspections, the purpose of which is to monitor the compliance of telecom operators with the requirements for the procedure for passing traffic and routing it, Roskomnadzor revealed one violation and issued an order to the operator to eliminate the violation.

One of the tasks of Roskomnadzor is to control the restriction of access to prohibited information and the mandatory identification of users when accessing the Internet through public Wi-Fi access points. In 2022, about 33.9 thousand Wi-Fi access points were checked, in 2021 - 37.5 thousand units. As a result, violations were identified in 226 cases, which is 0.67% of the total volume of tested access points. The situation has practically not changed compared to 2021: then violations were detected in 237 cases, which amounted to 0.63% of the total volume of tested access points.

Report on the implementation of the Plan and performance indicators of the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Communications in 2023

The cellular communication market has grown in Russia - by 4.1%

In July 2023, it became known about the growth of the Russian mobile communications market. Its volume, according to the analytical company TMT Consulting, revenues from operators from mobile services, which account for about 60% of revenue in the telecommunications industry, increased by 4.1% in 2022, which is slightly less than the growth rate in 2021 (+ 5%). The main growth factors were higher tariffs and increased consumption of additional services, which ensured an increase in revenue in both the V2S and V2V segments.

The study of TMT Consulting also states that by the end of 2022 the number of subscribers (active SIM-cards) of mobile communications in Russia decreased by 1.1% to 255 million, approaching the level of 2015 (252 million). Penetration was 173%. In absolute terms, the subscriber base decreased by 3 million. This is not the first case of a decline - it previously happened in 2018 and 2020. Operators changed their priorities from recruiting new customers to increasing loyalty and average check from existing customers, and the decrease was also due to the write-off of some subscribers in connection with the implementation of the 533-FZ, analysts say.

The Institute for Statistical Research and Knowledge Economics (ISIEZ) of the Higher School of Economics estimated the volume of the Russian market for mobile telephone services at 462.6 billion rubles, which is 1.8% more than a year earlier. The subscriber base also expanded - the number of mobile broadband access subscribers increased by 2.2%. The volume of mobile traffic in 2022 increased by 19.6%.

The growth in industry revenues does not correspond to the growth of inflation, and this is even if you do not remember the growth of the dollar. That is, the industry as a whole is poorer. The only exception is income from mobile Internet services, which increased by 8.6% year-on-year. But this is not enough, of course, - said the analyst of the telegram channel @ abloud62 Aleksei Boyko with reference to his own data[23]

Wi-Fi caught up in traffic with cellular communications in Russia

At the end of 2022, Wi-Fi caught up in traffic with cellular communications in Russia. This is stated in the draft "Strategy for the Development of the Communications Industry in the Russian Federation for 2024-2035," which was published in May 2023.

WiFi access gradually wins competition for traffic with mobile networks, and fixed broadband access remains the main channel of access to the Internet, - indicated in the document, excerpts from which are quoted by Vedomosti.

iKS-Consulting analyst Maxim Savvatin agrees that if we take all the cumulative traffic of public, corporate and private Wi-Fi networks, then it is approximately equal to the traffic transmitted over mobile networks. Many users at home or in the office switch their mobile devices to Wi-Fi, says an analyst at MForum Aleksei Boyko. Street Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi in the metro cannot boast of large volumes of traffic, he points out.

The development of Wi-Fi in the country is facilitated by an increase in prices for cellular communications, as well as the expansion of coverage of wireless networks in public places, at transport and in organizations - in 2022 the number of public access points increased by 3% and reached 191 thousand. At the same time, mobile networks either ceased to develop, or generally degraded, said Comfortel Dmitry Petrov, General Director of "."

According to Maxim Savvatin's forecasts, the share of traffic transmitted over Wi-Fi will grow primarily due to home users who will increasingly use smart devices. Also, according to the expert, growth will continue in public networks: coverage in the regions will expand, the number of hotels, recreational facilities, cafes, restaurants and other tourist infrastructure will increase.

If there were no shortage of frequencies, and operators would not cancel unlimited tariffs, many subscribers would prefer not to go to Wi-Fi at all, Boyko believes.^[24]

Putin imposed fines for illegal sale of SIM cards

At the end of December 2022, the president Russia Vladimir Putin signed a law aimed at increasing responsibility for illegal distribution SIM of cards. According to the document, if a telecom operator concludes an agreement on the provision of services Internet in a way that is not provided for by law, the fine for citizens will be from 30 to 50 thousand, rubles for legal entities - from 300 thousand to 500 thousand rubles.

A similar fine is provided for the provision of communication services to a subscriber whose information is not included in the unified identification and authentication system, for concluding an agreement on the provision of services by a person who does not have the authority to do so, as well as for failure to comply with the requirements to include subscriber information in such an agreement.

According to the explanatory note to the bill, in Russia it is forbidden to conclude contracts for the provision of mobile communications services in non-stationary retail facilities, but cases of sale of SIM cards at train stations, in the metro and other similar places are detected. At the same time, there are requirements regarding information about the subscriber that must be entered into the contract, but often the sale takes place without drawing up a document, or SIM-cards issued to legal entities are distributed.

MegaFon believes that the sanctions provided for by the draft federal law do not correspond to the severity of the offenses.

In our opinion, the bill contradicts the state's course to reduce the administrative and regulatory burden on business, the company's press service said.

Roskomnadzor They indicated that, in accordance with the law "On Communications," the mobile operator is obliged to independently check the accuracy of information about the subscriber before the start of the provision of services. By law, Roskomnadzor is entrusted with the obligation to monitor the reliability of information about subscribers entered by telecom operators, and if inaccurate information is identified, bring telecom operators to administrative responsibility, the department added.^[25]

MTS, Megafon, VimpelCom and Tele2 raised tariffs by 10% amid equipment shortages

At the end of April 2022, it became known that prices for mobile tariffs in Russia had increased . The services of cellular operators have risen in price by no more than 10% amid sanctions and equipment shortages.

According to Kommersant, MegaFon in mid-April raised prices for the No Overpayments line in a number of regions. The changes affected the plans "Minimum," "Internet," "Calls," "MegaTariff," "Maximum," the price increase was about 30 rubles. "The changes are due to an increase in the company's costs for the provision of services and maintaining a high quality of communication," - explained in "MegaFon." On April 12, MTS raised prices by 30-50 rubles in Netarif and Netarif Junior in several regions, follows from the operator's website. The company assured that "nothing has changed for existing subscribers."

Tele2, in turn, removed the tariffs of the My Tele2 line to the archive: My Conversation, My Online, My Online + and Super Online + and launched their updated versions. According to a company representative, the operator added Wink and more.tv streaming subscriptions and unlimited limits for the Discord messenger to the new tariff line, expanded Internet packages and minutes.

Operator VimpelCom closed the Anlim tariff. The company explained that "old tariffs with single users" are being withdrawn from circulation, because the operator "needs to release resources."

Mobile Research Group analyst Eldar Murtazin noted that this is the first price increase for existing tariffs by several large operators at once over the past few years.

Now the main reason for the increase in prices for mobile communications is the increased costs of operators to maintain the operability of networks and their modernization, - said Konstantin Ankilov, general director of TMT Consulting, in an interview with the newspaper .

According to him, a large further increase in tariffs should not be expected, since there is still high competition between operators.^[26]

The Ministry of Digital Development is going to return part of the income tax to operators

Ministry of Digital Development came up with a proposal to extend investment tax the deduction to operators. communications This became known on April 19, 2022. This measure will allow representatives telecom of the industry to reduce the amount of income tax on expenses that are related to the acquisition, manufacture and modernization of fixed assets from January 1, 2018.

Income tax payers will be able to take advantage of the deduction until December 31, 2027 inclusive.

The support measure is being taken in order to preserve the investments of operators in the operation and modernization of communication networks through regional support measures, the regulator said in a statement.

The income tax investment deduction was introduced by Federal Law No. 335-FZ of November 27, 2017. It assumes that the total amount of deduction for all types of expenses in the current tax (reporting) period does not exceed the difference between the amount of tax calculated (excluding deduction) at the base rate and the amount of tax calculated at the 5% rate. At the same time, the law of the subject of Russia may establish a rate different from 5%.

The TIN is introduced by decision of the subject of the country and involves a decrease in the amount of tax payable to the regional budget in the amount of up to 90% of the costs of investments in fixed assets and in the federal budget - in the amount of up to 10% of expenses.

In the regions, it was allowed to introduce the TIN as a tool to stimulate the development of the economy since 2018, but a third of the regions have not yet adopted it. As of April 2022, laws were adopted in 60 of the 85 subjects of the country. The problem was reported back in 2020 by experts from the Center for Tax Policy of the NIFI of the Ministry of Finance of Russia, who noted that in the regions they face difficulties in introducing innovation. In particular, the adoption of the TIN at the level of local legislation is hampered because the regions must take into account not only the development of the economy, but also the fulfillment of the requirements of the Ministry of Finance in terms of the level of debt and budget deficit.

Be that as it may, until now, regional laws on TIN did not concern the infrastructure of telecom operators - but affected, for example, the creation and modernization of transport, social and communal infrastructure facilities. Now, in order to extend the support measure to telecom industries, 61 OKVED "Telecommunications Activities" will be added to regional laws.

Earlier, Ministry of Digital Development allowed operators in 2022 not to fulfill their obligations to cover the Russian "outback" with networks of the fourth generation of cellular communications (4G) of the LTE standard . Other relaxations include the ability to raise tariffs for customers. Also, companies have the right not to comply with the requirements of the "Spring Law" for a whole year, which obliged them to store records of user conversations, SMS and other media content so that special services could view it if necessary. Also, Russian operators were reduced to a minimum by income tax and opened access to loans at a rate of no more than 3%. All of these support measures were introduced against the backdrop of the crisis in the communications industry due to socio-political events. At the end of March 2022, the commission of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs warned of interruptions in cellular networks due to a shortage of equipment and wear of capacity. The problems were the result of large-scale sanctions against Russia and the depreciation of the ruble Ministry of Digital Development^[27]

The Ministry of Digital Development recommended mobile operators to abandon unlimited tariffs

On March 29, 2022, the Russian Ministry of Digital Development announced recommendations to mobile operators to remove unlimited tariffs and reduce the amount of traffic consumed by subscribers.

The development of telecom networks in Russia took place at a pace outpacing global indicators. Internet traffic of mobile operators in Russia is growing by more than 50% annually. To ensure the quality of services and preserve the volume of data transmission, it is necessary to upgrade the current ones and build new base stations. Given the shortage of equipment in the context of sanctions, operators may have objective difficulties in maintaining the pace of network development. In this regard, the Russian Ministry of Digital Development considered it necessary to recommend that operators evenly distribute the load on the networks, namely:

• Limit the offers of unlimited tariffs, which caused distortions in traffic consumption, uneven load on the networks.
• If necessary, revise the filling of tariffs. In operator activities, this process is constant, it always follows the capabilities of the telecom market.

The Ministry of Digital Development drew attention to the fact that over the past years mobile operators have accumulated a critical mass of so-called "archival" tariffs, including with unlimited access to. to the Internet This creates an unreasonably high load in places where subscribers can connect to wired networks. communications It is to eliminate this bias in the use of mobile communication networks that recommendations are directed. In addition, the exclusion of "archival" tariffs with an irrelevantly low price for communication services will allow operators to maintain current tariffs for all subscribers.

At the same time, the Ministry of Digital Development of Russia, together with the FAS, will control the rise in prices. Tariffs for cellular communications will not grow above the inflation rate in Russia. The ministry recalled that communication servants in Russia are among the lowest in value in the world. Russia is one of the TOP-3 countries in terms of the availability of mobile Internet for the population and among the leaders in the penetration of broadband Internet access based on fiber-optic networks.

The Ministry of Digital Development of Russia has developed measures to support Russian telecom operators

On March 4, 2022, it became known that the Russian Ministry of Digital Development had developed measures to support Russian telecom operators against the background of the situation around Ukraine. First of all, they are waiting for the weakening of the requirements of the "Spring Law" also known as the "Spring Package." Read more here.

Cellular companies in Russia raise tariffs by 10%

It became known about the increase in mobile tariffs in. In Russia early January 2022 MTS , it informed subscribers about the rise in price of its services by 60 rubles while maintaining a set of services. As "" writes in the Kommersant issue of January 19, 2022, "" VimpelCom raises prices for archival tariffs by 10%, and in February services should rise in price "" and MegaFon. Tele2

VimpelCom confirmed the "price change" and promised to warn subscribers about this in advance, as well as provide them with the opportunity to choose bonuses or change the tariff plan. By January 2022, the operator has about 40 archival tariffs worth from 650 to 2500 rubles per month, the newspaper notes.

As explained in MTS, the rise in price of tariffs is caused by an increase in the cost of maintaining and building networks, in particular equipment and its delivery, as well as with an increase in prices for electricity and services that are purchased from external contractors. Also, the changes in tariffs are influenced by the obligations imposed on operators to comply with regulatory requirements, the company's press service added.

Tele2 responded to RBC's request that the company "from time to time" adjusts tariffs "to guarantee customers the proper level of service and the relevant filling of services." The company explained that they raised prices only for a number of archival tariffs.

By raising prices, operators are encouraging subscribers to switch to new tariffs, said Raiffeisen Bank analyst Sergei Libin. According to him, the main metric of the mobile tariff is the cost of 1 GB of traffic, and in this regard, new tariffs can be even cheaper than archival ones, but when using current tariffs, the average check from the user (ARPU) is higher, so that operators will benefit.

According to experts interviewed by Kommersant, tariffs for mobile communications in Russia in 2022 will collectively rise in price by 10-12% due to rising inflation, an increase in the volume of mobile traffic and the cost of electricity, as well as due to regulatory requirements.^{[28] [29]}

2021

There are 30 private LTE and 5G networks in Russia

By the end of 2021, there were more than 30 private LTE and 5G networks in Russia. This was announced in December 2021 by analysts at J'son & Partners Consulting.

According to them, the vast majority of projects to create dedicated cellular networks by the end of 2021 were under testing/piloting, single projects were launched in pilot commercial operation. The main sectors of consumers: mining, oil and gas, power, transport and logistics hubs (railway stations).

In terms of the number of launched projects, Private LTE is the leader in Russia. By the MTS end of 2021, the company launched more than 10 networks for industrial holdings - Sibur"," "" etc Severstal.

One of the largest Private LTE projects in Russia (11 base stations) was implemented at the end of 2021 at the Kuranakh gold mine in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). The network is used to monitor about 100 units of mining vehicles, the NaaS/SaaS service model is used.

Another large private LTE network (more than 20 base stations indoors and 6 outside) is planned to be built at the production sites of the Magnitogorsk Metallurgical Plant (MMK). It will be used, in particular, for the introduction of industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) technologies, services based on video analytics and positioning systems for production facilities. It is expected that the use of Private LTE technology in this project will save about 50 million rubles on the deployment of an expensive Wi-Fi network on an open area .

According to J'son & Partners Consulting forecasts, the volume of the Russian market for private LTE/5G networks will grow by 36.3% per year and in 2025 will reach 3.2 billion rubles. Of greatest interest to companies is 5G technology, which has higher bandwidth compared to LTE and provides lower latencies, the researchers note^[30]

The Ministry of Digital Development will oblige operators to share subscriber data with Roskomnadzor

In December 2021, the Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media of the Russian Federation again changed the procedure for transmitting data on conversations and traffic of mobile subscribers to Roskomnadzor under the law on combating gray SIM cards.

In the new version of the government decree developed by the Ministry of Digital Development, Roskomnadzor will be given the opportunity to receive only some of the information about subscribers by a court decision. Without a court decision and without any restrictions, the department will be able to request data only on the provision of services to subscribers and the time of their provision.

In addition, information about the location of the base stations through which the subscriber receives communication services has disappeared from the list of data transmitted to Roskomnadzor. The representative of the Ministry of Digital Development explained to the publication that the changes are related to fully taking into account the interests of Russians and the community of telecommunications operators.

Even in the current (by December 15, 2021) version, the project gives Roskomnadzor overestimated powers, namely, to demand information about the services provided, the source said on the market. A source in one of the mobile operators also speaks of the redundancy of information that will need to be provided to the regulator.

In addition, there is still no information about the forecast load on operator systems, which does not allow giving an objective estimate of costs, he notes.

It is not clear why Roskomnadzor so stubbornly wants to receive information about the volume of traffic of mobile subscribers, says Irina Levova, director of strategic projects at the Institute for Internet Research. In her opinion, in order to implement the goals of the law, this information will not be useful, while the transfer of such information should be carried out only by a court decision, since it refers to the secrecy of communication.^[31]

In Russia, began to block corporate SIM-cards without registered owners

On December 1, 2021, a law came into force obliging telecom operators to block corporate SIM cards that do not have registered owners.

SIM cards fall under the restrictions if information about their end users is not included in the Unified Identification and Authentication System (ESIA) on the Public services portal. According to the amendments to the Law "On Communications," which were adopted in 2021, companies - customers of telecom operators had to register all their subscribers in the system by November 30, 2021.

On November 30, 2021, the Ministry of Digital Development press service announced that more than 20 million corporate SIM cards have been confirmed on the Public services, which are used for voice communications, as well as for the operation of the Internet of Things.

According to information that the ministry received from mobile operators, the companies have approved schedules for completing the registration of SIM cards, the message says.

The Ministry of Digital Development may extend the transition period for registering corporate mobile numbers on the Public services portal, Kommersant writes, citing sources in the telecommunications market. According to one of them, they want to extend the transition period until the end of February 2022.

In mid-November 2021, the publication, citing analysts and telecom operators, wrote that more than half of corporate mobile numbers could be disconnected from communication services after December 1 due to violation of the law on gray SIM cards. In total, according to analysts at Mobile Research Group, at that time there were about 32 million corporate SIM cards in Russia.

The general director of TMT Consulting Konstantin Ankilov explained to the publication that not all b2b clients of mobile operators are registered with Public services and not all of them know that the operator will have to turn off SIM cards if they do not register data.^[32]

New procedure for registration of radioelectronic equipment approved

On October 28, 2021, the Russian Ministry of Digital Development announced a change in the rules for registering electronic communications. From March 1, 2022, when extending the permission to use the frequencies, the register record of the registered radio electronic means (RES) will be extended automatically. Read more here.

Roskomnadzor gained access to data on conversations of corporate cellular subscribers

On October 1, 2021, an amendment to the federal law "On Communications" came into force, according to which telecommunications operators must provide some data on subscribers - legal entities and individual entrepreneurs on the request of Roskomnadzor.

The right of Roskomnadzor to demand information about subscribers applies to those who are connected to corporate tariffs. In addition, upon request, carriers must provide information on the facts of receiving and transmitting voice information, text and multimedia messages with the date and time of their transmission or receipt and the location of the base station to which the phone was connected.

According to the law, which was signed by President Vladimir Putin in early July 2021, the purpose of such collection of information is "to monitor the compliance of telecom operators with the obligation to verify the reliability of subscriber information and information about users with subscriber communication services." Previously, only law enforcement agencies had access to such information.

As RBC explained in Roskomnadzor, the collection of data on subscribers is needed to eliminate the gray SIM card market. We are talking about cards that are issued on some people, but illegally used by others. The department believes that they are purchased by legal entities and individual entrepreneurs, and then transferred to other people - this allows them to use SIM cards in fraudulent schemes.

Market participants interviewed by the publication previously criticized this law. The representative MTS indicated, for example, that the list of requested information was redundant and some of it related to the secret of communication. The representative, in Ministry of Digital Development turn, told RBC that the secret of communication would be respected, since Roskomnadzor would not get access to the content of messages and calls from subscribers.^[33]

RSPP and mobile operators stood up for the secrecy of these corporate subscribers

On September 13, 2021, it became known about the reaction of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP) and telecommunications companies to the draft government decree developed by the Ministry of Digital Development, according to which all new legal entities of telecom operators will have to register users of corporate SIM cards in a unified identification and authentication system (ESIA).

According to this initiative, which may enter into force on October 1, 2021, no later than 70 days after that, operators must provide Roskomnadzor with:

• passport data of corporate subscribers;
• information about the employer, phone number;
• equipment data;
• "the identifier in network of mobile radiotelephone communication used when rendering communication services" (IMSI - International Mobile Subscriber Identity; unique SIM card number).

In accordance with this project, Roskomnadzor will be able to request data on calls or data transmission and the location of the nearest base stations when providing services, Kommersant writes.

It is assumed that information on new corporate subscribers will be entered into the ESIA from June 1, 2022. Current users will have to enter data by November 1, 2021.

The Commission of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, MTS and Tele2 drew attention to the fact that part of the required information can be transmitted only by a court decision. This is, in particular, IMSI, which in court practice is recognized as information constituting the secret of communication. The very transfer of information about subscriber connections also constitutes a secret of communication and can be transmitted to third parties only by a court decision, MTS noted.

VimpelCom In "" reported that they took part in the formation of the position of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs. MegaFon The ""declined to comment at the request of the publication. The Ministry of Digital Development Science said that the project meets the requirements of federal legislation. Roskomnadzor believes that the composition of the data requested from operators is minimal.^[34]

Roskomnadzor will have access to phone calls from Russians

On March 17, 2021, it became known about the plans of Roskomnadzor to receive data on subscribers and their phone calls. This was reported in the draft government decree developed by the department, which was published on the portal of draft regulatory legal acts.

According to the document developed to combat "gray" SIM-cards, operators will be required to provide access to the following subscriber data:

• The name of the customer
• his place of residence; date of birth;
• identity document details;
• phone number;
• types of connections made by the subscriber;
• facts of transmission of voice information and messages.

In an explanatory note to the draft law, the innovations are explained by the fight against "gray" SIM-cards, which are distributed free of charge in crowded places. They are issued for legal organizations and individual entrepreneurs and are used for fraud. Swindlers purchase such SIM cards using someone else's passports, this "creates obstacles in conducting operational-search actions, as it makes it difficult to identify the subscriber," the note says.

RBC, citing experts, notes that the scale of the requested information will violate the secrecy of communication. However, the Ministry of Digital Development said that such detailed information will not violate the secrecy of communication and will not affect the content of calls and user messages. The ministry clarified that in Russia thousands of people become victims of fraudsters who use "gray" SIM-cards.

The information provided for by law will be transferred to Roskomnadzor. In accordance with the adopted 533-FZ ["On Amendments to the Federal Law" On Communications "]. The agency will be able to block corporate SIM cards, the authenticity of the owners of which has not been confirmed, the Ministry of Digital Development[35][36]

2020

The contribution of the mobile communication market to the economies of Russia and the CIS is estimated at $143 billion

The contribution of the mobile communications market, including technologies and services, to the economies of Russia and the CIS by the end of 2020 amounted to almost $143 billion, and by 2025 it will reach $160 billion. This is stated in a study published in September 2021 by the GSMA Association.

According to experts, the growth of the share of the cellular market in the country's total GDP is due to increased productivity and efficiency due to the wider introduction of mobile services.

Until recently, the deployment of a 4G network in Russia and the CIS was the industry's top priority. Now that the number of smartphones is growing rapidly, we expect an inevitable increase in interest in 5G in the most progressive markets, says GSMA CEO Mats Granrid. "To accelerate this process, we need policies that can stimulate the development of this technology and attract investment.

Analysts believe that the success of 5G, in particular their speed, reach and quality, largely depend on national governments and regulators, as they provide timely access to the right number and type of frequencies available in the right conditions.

According to the data published in the report, in 2020, 4G technology accounted for about 50% of mobile subscribers in Russia. The shares of 3G and 2G standards amounted to 33% and 17%. 5G networks were not then in the Russian Federation, it is expected that by 2025 they will occupy about 9% of the Russian mobile market in terms of the number of users, and the share of 4G will grow to 81% due to the replacement of outdated technologies.

By the end of 2020, the degree of penetration of mobile communications in Russia was estimated at 89% (corresponds to approximately 130 million subscribers). Moreover, by 2025, according to analysts, the indicator will remain the same. At the same time, the penetration of smartphones among the population will increase from 74% to 87%.

According to how widely mobile communication is distributed among residents of the country, Russia at the end of 2020 took first place in the CIS. In the nearest pursuer - Ukraine - the penetration rate was measured by 88% (39 million subscribers), in Belarus - 80% (8 million).

It also follows from the GSMA report that by the end of 2020, about 72% of Russians used mobile Internet - this is the highest value among the CIS countries. For example, in Ukraine the share was 66%, in Belarus - 63%.

According to GSMA researchers, fierce price competition in the region is also encouraging mobile operators to create new sources of income beyond basic connectivity. These include consumer and business-oriented services such as pay TV, media and advertising, cloud technology, security and financial services, and vertical industry solutions.

The social and economic value of mobile services is increasing amid the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, which has demonstrated the importance of fast and reliable access to the Internet and digital services for both individuals and companies. During the isolation, mobile operators maintained communication between residents in the CIS countries, offered discounts on voice and data tariffs, provided free access to entertainment and healthcare services, and the opportunity to donate to national funds to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.^[37]

Russian mobile operators closed 1,700 salons in the Russian Federation due to COVID-19

Russian cellular operators in 2020 closed more than 1,700 salons of communication salons in the Russian Federation. The main reason is the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, due to which people are less likely to go to stores, preferring to buy on the Internet.

MTS closed 600 outlets in 2020, VimpelCom, starting from the end of September 2019, liquidated 637 salons, and Tele2 removed 8% of similar facilities, company representatives told Izvestia. MegaFon has stopped operating about 200 stores, a market source told the publication.

All mobile market players note a decrease in attendance at communication salons. According to some estimates, it accounts for up to 25% of traffic.

To overcome the crisis, operators are forced to remove salons from the streets of cities, while leaving stores in shopping centers, said electronics expert Arkady Markaryan. According to him, up to 85% of such points of the company can optimize or reduce their area.

Eldar Murtazin, an analyst at Mobile Research Group, believes that retail optimization will allow operators to significantly reduce their costs, since the maintenance of one store costs about 12 million rubles a year.

Experts interviewed by Izvestia say that cellular retail was unprofitable even before the pandemic, and the existing number of salons was excessive.

Operators will find more and more channels for the sale of cellular contracts both offline and on the Internet. As a result, this will lead to the fact that SIM-cards can be bought almost everywhere, Eldar Murtazin is sure.

In 2020, the share of single-brand networks and online stores of the four largest telecom operators accounted for about 25% of smartphone sales in monetary terms, estimates Konstantin Ankilov, managing partner of TMT Consulting.^[38]

Reduction of the number of cellular subscribers in the Russian Federation by a record 1.3%

The number of cellular subscribers in Russia in 2020 decreased by 1.3%, to 257 million, which corresponds to the 175% penetration of mobile communications in the country. In absolute terms, the number of active SIM cards decreased by 3.5 million, according to data from the TMT Consulting analytical company.

According to experts, the dynamics of the change in the subscriber base in the Russian mobile market in 2020 turned out to be record low for the entire time and were the result of the self-isolation regime caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, during which user visits to communication salons (the main channel for connecting new subscribers) decreased. In addition, the closure of borders affected, which led to a decrease in the number of labor migrants in the country using the services of Russian operators in Russia, according to the study.

Revenue in the Russian mobile market in 2020 increased by 0.3% against 3.3% a year earlier. At the same time, the volume of the entire telecommunications industry sank by 0.7%, amounting to 1.73 trillion rubles. Speaking about the reasons for the decline in the cellular market in monetary terms, analysts pointed to a decrease in the subscriber base and a decrease in revenues from international roaming.

According to the Content Review, the average cost of the minimum mobile package in Russia in the second half of 2020 decreased by 3%, to 281 rubles per month. In the first half of the year, the cost of mobile communications in the country increased by 8%, and analysts predicted an increase of another 14% in the second half of the year.

Among the regions with the most affordable communication cost, according to Content Review, were the Yamalo-Nenets and Khanty-Mansi districts, Sakhalin, Magadan and Yaroslavl regions. At the end of the year, mobile communications were most expensive in Dagestan, Chechnya, Karachay-Cherkessia, Kabardino-Balkaria and Stavropol Territory.^[39]

In the Russian Federation, fines may be introduced for violations of the use of foreign communication satellites

In the Russian Federation, fines may be introduced for violations of the use of foreign communication satellites. This became known on December 29, 2020.

The amount of fines for legal entities can reach 1 million rubles.

The corresponding bill was formed by the Russian government. The document was sent for consideration to the State Duma.

According to the document, the authorities propose to introduce fines for Russian telecom operators who use a foreign satellite system, but do not form a domestic segment of such a system. It must operate as part of a public communication network gateway.

The bill provides for the imposition of fines for such violations - on officials in the amount of 10 to 30 thousand rubles, and on legal entities - from 500 thousand to 1 million rubles.

The proposed measures aim to prevent threats to national security. In addition, the functioning of such a system will ensure the activities of the system of operational-search measures. Thus, the government will be able to make sure that the traffic transmitted by foreign operators is not of an intelligence nature.

The bill will have to pass three readings in the State Duma. After that, the document will go for approval to the Federation Council, and if there is approval of senators, fines for ^[40] for signature to the President of Russia].

The Ministry of Digital Development supported the creation of a unified IT system for checking information about subscribers

On November 17, 2020, it became known that the Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media supported the creation of a unified information system for verifying information about subscribers of telecom operators (UIS PSA). but with one condition. The agency wants the integration of technology with a unified identification and authentication system (ESIA) used on the public services portal and in e-government services . Read more here.

The Ministry of Digital Development proposes to ban the management of networks by foreign companies without offices in Russia

The Ministry of Digital Development proposes to ban the management of telecommunications networks by foreign companies without offices in Russia. The corresponding draft order in November 2020 was published on the federal portal of draft regulatory legal acts.

According to the document, the management of networks should be carried out only from Russia, and the passage of traffic through the territory of foreign countries is not allowed, with the exception of connections with the Kaliningrad region or with Russian embassies abroad.

In addition, Ministry of Digital Development plans to prohibit non-resident organizations from providing network management services for critical information infrastructure facilities. The operator can attract a foreign organization only if it has a representative office in Russia.

The Ministry of Economy criticized the proposals of the Ministry of Digital Development. Experts of the department believe that the new requirements will entail material and administrative costs of telecom operators, in particular, the need to use certified means of cryptographic information protection, certification of antivirus software and the organization of a single connection point for third-party organizations.

According to Alexander Zhuravlev, chairman of the commission of the Moscow branch of the Russian Bar Association, the creation of a single connection point that the Ministry of Digital Development offers will protect critical infrastructure and personal data of citizens from possible abuses by foreign companies.

The involvement of foreign organizations in network management is due to the fact that most of the software and equipment is foreign-made, he said in a conversation with Kommersant.

The source of the publication in one of the telecom operators expressed the opinion that the initiative of the Ministry of Digital Development will lead to the containment of the introduction of new technologies and an increase in communication tariffs.^[41]

The Ministry of Digital Development wants to oblige operators to conclude roaming agreements with Rostelecom

In mid-September 2020, it became known that Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation it did not approve the prepared Ministry of Digital Development draft government decree on the composition and principles of the provision of universal communication services (UUS). Criticism of the Ministry of Economics concerns an initiative obliging mobile operators to conclude roaming agreements with "," the Rostelecom conditions of which will be established by the Ministry of Digital Development.

Ministry of Economic Development The statement indicates that the subject of such an agreement is not established either in the draft resolution or in the norms of the existing legislation. RUSSIAN FEDERATION In addition, the department believes that the forced conclusion of the contract requires additional justification.

Minek also insists on an additional justification for the proposal to increase the data transfer rate within the UUS from 2 Mbit/s to 10 Mbit/s, since this may require additional costs, according to the agency's recall to the Ministry of Digital Development project.

As told To the businessman"" in Ministry of Digital Development, the conclusion of roaming agreements with Rostelecom needs its infrastructure to be used not only within the framework of the UUS, but also when providing other services to other subscribers.

The source of the publication in one of the companies called this initiative another attempt by Rostelecom to get frequencies for mobile communications without competition and for free. One of the principles of the UUS was to minimize the possible impact on competition, otherwise they would impede the development of communication networks and their availability, as well as the introduction of new technologies, he notes.

In this case, the desire to monopolize the entire industry by one operator is obvious, including for those services for which this operator has neither experience, nor specialists, nor resources, - said the source of Kommersant[42]

Organization of remote sale of SIM-cards

In early August 2020, the Ministry of Economic Development announced an experiment to remotely conclude contracts for communication services. Large operators are ready to take part in this initiative.

As the representative of Minek told Kommersant, by the beginning of August 2020, it is possible to conclude an agreement for communication services only personally in the operator's salon or using an electronic signature, but with the condition that when issuing the key to it, the identity was confirmed in the Unified Identification and Authentication System.

As part of the experiment, which will be held in 2021, SIM the card can be bought at any point of sale, including grocery stores, pharmacies, gas stations, points of issue of orders and kiosks, as well as via the Internet. The buyer of the SIM card will receive a free package. Internet This will allow him to download the application where you need to register and take a picture with your passport.

Pilot regions can be Moscow and the Moscow region, St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region, Krasnoyarsk, Perm and Primorsky Territories, Nizhny Novgorod, Novosibirsk, Rostov, Samara and Sverdlovsk regions, Bashkiria and Tatarstan. If the experiment is successful, the sale of SIM cards outside communication salons will be launched throughout Russia.

MTS, as the company told the newspaper, is interested in participating in the experiment and plans to use the MTS Subscriber application for remote registration of SIM cards.

We are ready to pilot various remote identification systems to conclude contracts for the provision of communication services. We have our own serious developments in this area, - told RIA Novosti in the press service of VimpelCom.

By the beginning of August 2020, SIM cards are sold not only in communication salons, but, for example, in Pyaterochka stores. But this option is in the "gray zone," said Yuri Brisov, a member of the commission on legal support of the digital economy of the Moscow branch of the Russian Bar Association.^[43][44]

The Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications will prohibit operators from giving subscribers numbers of other operators

On July 20, 2020, it became known about the decision of the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications to prohibit operators from giving subscribers numbers assigned to other telecommunications companies. Thanks to this, the department intends to reduce communications fraud - Telephone fraud.

The telecom operator does not have the right, on the basis of the agreement on the provision of communication services, to allocate to the subscriber a subscriber number corresponding to the Russian system and numbering plan from the numbering resource not allocated to him in the prescribed manner or allocated to another telecom operator, the document prepared by the ministry says.

The exception will be cases when the subscriber number was saved when concluding a contract for the provision of mobile services with another operator.

It is clarified that in the Russian legislation on communications for a long time there has been a legal uncertainty regarding the use by telecom operators of someone else's numbering resource, namely, there is no direct ban on this kind of activity. In this regard, the number of cases of fraud in the provision of communication services has seriously increased in the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications noted.^[45]

The Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications will prohibit operators from giving subscribers the numbers of other operators after the Moscow police neutralized a criminal group that stole tens of millions of rubles from citizens' bank accounts by illegally re-issuing their telephone SIM cards. The attackers received access codes to the victims' mobile banks and could write off funds from there.

Such telephone fraud is called vishing. Vichers use social engineering methods - the victim herself transfers her personal data to attackers. A person receives an SMS with a request to call the bank back or receives a call from a "beautiful" bank number. The fraudster introduces himself as a bank operator and informs about the blocking of the account due to a suspicious attempt to write off funds. To unlock the account, you are asked to tell the "operator" the code word, CVV or password from SMS.

Cellular operators lost 30 billion rubles due to coronavirus

Due to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, mobile operators in Russia lost about 30 billion rubles from March to May 2020. Such data on June 22 were cited by the Content Review agency.

According to experts, 40% of the losses from this amount fell on the closure of communication salons. Another 30% is the loss from roaming after the closure of borders after the outbreak of coronavirus. In addition, companies had to spend money on developing networks, transferring employees to remote locations and free access to socially significant resources.

Analysts believe that the revenue of operators will continue to decline amid a drop in purchasing power, as well as due to the introduction of remote identification of subscribers when registering new SIM cards, which will reduce the possibility of selling additional services to new subscribers in salons. Roaming revenue at the end of 2020 will decrease several times, since even after the opening of borders, the number of citizens leaving the country will be insignificant, Content Review is sure.

 MegaFon believes that operators need to find opportunities to revise the business model and "rationalize the business" - primarily by transforming retail, including reducing the excess number of points, increasing the margin of equipment sales, reducing marketing costs and reducing investments.

 BTele2 say the forecasts are premature, but  in the long term "the industry may benefit" because of subscribers' habits of spending more time online.

The Content Review expects that by the end of 2020, due to the long-term impact of the coronavirus epidemic, Russian mobile operators may receive less than 9-11% of revenue. Focusing on the total revenue of the Big Four in 2019, Kommersant estimates the amount of estimated losses for the year at 114-140 billion rubles.^[46]

2019

Roskomnadzor considered more than 6.4 thousand complaints against the Big Four operators

On February 12, 2020 Roskomnadzor , he summed up the results of systematic work with citizens' appeals regarding the provision of services communications by the Big Four operators. In 2019, more than 6.4 thousand such appeals were considered, of which 1.2 thousand are in the Central Federal District. More. here

Operators raise prices for cellular communications in Russia

On December 17, 2019, it became known about the rise in prices for cellular communications in Russia. Thus, VimpelCom warned subscribers about an increase in the price of unlimited archival tariffs by 17-18% from January 16, 2020.

As a representative of VimpelCom told Kommersant, the company was forced to revise the terms of a number of archival tariff plans in accordance with the market situation, the change of which was influenced by the costs of the "Spring Law" and the planned costs of implementing the law on "sovereign runet."

Tele2 raised prices for international roaming, MTS announced the closure of a number of "outdated" services at an unlimited tariff, and MegaFon announced a price increase in some corporate archive tariffs at the end of November 2019.

Rostelecom reported to the publication that the operator "smoothly and pointwise revises outdated archival tariff plans for home Internet and pay TV in the regions if they cease to correspond to economic realities."

The increase in tariffs by about 20% "is several times higher than the costs of implementing the Yarovaya Law and other legislative initiatives, Timur Nigmatullin, investment manager of Otkritie Broker, told Kommersant. By raising prices, VimpelCom will be able to get rid of the relatively low-margin subscriber base and relieve the load from the networks, but this will lead to a reduction in market share, which Tele2 can take advantage of, the expert said.

Mobile Research Group analyst Eldar Murtazin noted that from 2014 to the end of 2019, mobile communications in the Russian Federation rose in price by at least 30%, while the costs of operators grew faster.

According to analysts, the rise in price will take place systematically. Experts noted that Russians began to consume more traffic and increase spending on mobile Internet. This leads to the fact that operators increase the cost of archive tariffs by an average of 30% open more expensive tariff plans with a large amount of included traffic.^[47]

Russians call more often through instant messengers than via traditional cellular communications

On September 19, 2019, it became known that Russians are now calling more often through instant messengers than through traditional cellular communications. Such data are provided in a study by Deloitte.

According to Kommersant, citing this report, experts applied their own "demand index," which is calculated as the difference between the shares of respondents who noted an increase and decrease in the use of a particular function. For calls via the Internet, this index increased by 11 points over the year, to 31 points, and for calls on cellular communications - decreased by 24 points, to 6 points.

Instant messaging applications occupy the first place in terms of the demand for smartphone functions among Russians, 53% of respondents began to use them more often. On average, users have four messengers installed on their smartphones: 83% of respondents have WhatsApp, 61% have Viber, 53% have Skype, and 40% have Telegram.

The study notes that Telegram is growing the fastest among messengers, which has been blocked in since 2018. Russia

Operators confirm a decrease in revenue from voice communication or a slowdown in its growth compared to indicators from Internet traffic.

This is due to the growth in the number of digital subscribers, that is, those who constantly and consciously use the mobile Internet. But so far calls through the cellular network are significantly more popular, - told the publication in. MegaFon

According to experts interviewed by the newspaper, the share of calls through instant messengers in Russia still does not exceed 35% of all calls. In Moscow, this figure is slightly higher ― 40%.

Experts believe that cellular companies manage to neutralize the risks of falling or stagnating revenues from voice communications using package offers including the Internet, as well as paid subscriptions and additional services.^[48]

2017

Opening Broker: Dynamics of service mobile revenue and OIBDA margin operators negative

In order to compare the indicators, it is advisable to compare sector companies at the level of the Russian business segment - a key source of revenue. In the case of VEON, at the end of 2017, the corresponding segment generated slightly less than 50% of operating income, Megafon - 98.6% of revenue, and MTS - 93%.

From the point of view of the dynamics of service mobile revenue and OIBDA margin, it is worth noting the influence of the following factors:

1. Dynamics of real wages. In the context of a long and significant decrease in real wages, Russian households showed an earlier tendency to save on communication services, which was uncharacteristic for them. According to Rosstat, from 2013 to 2017, the share of the corresponding household expenses decreased by 2% to 3.3%. Consumers switched to cheaper tariffs and refused additional SIM cards.

2. Course. rubleA large share of operating expenses of mobile operators is historically tied to the exchange rate. dollar In addition, the weakening of the national currency reduces revenues from foreign against the roaming background of a drop in foreign tourist flow, as well as other categories of VAS revenue.

3. Increased competition. The launch of Tele2 in the key Moscow region for Russian operators negatively affected pricing. In fact, the oligopoly model of competition of the "troika" took a big step towards monopolistic competition. In combination with the decline in real wages and the weakening of the ruble, the companies of the sector showed a record synchronous fall in margins.

4. Attempts at diversification. The decrease in margins and the strengthening of state regulation naturally led to a decrease in the return on investment. A trend towards diversification has taken shape in the mobile communications market (Megafon buying control in VK (formerly Mail.ru Group), MTS investments in Ozon and system integration, the development of VEON's own Internet platform). In some cases, M&A deals have severely unbalanced cash flow and overloaded companies with debt. In particular, against this background, Megafon refused to pay dividends.

5. Non-market pricing attempts. After a record drop in mobile revenue and margin compression in the second half of 2016, market players began to synchronously change the pricing strategy on the principle of "more services at a higher price," including on archive tariffs. The first stage was the abolition of unlimited data tariffs at the beginning of 2017, the second was the increase in prices for now limited VAS. The operators' actions coincided with a local recovery in real wages of the population and led to a noticeable acceleration in the growth rate of mobile revenue in Russia, as well as a natural improvement in margins. Nevertheless, the actions were of interest to the antimonopoly authorities and may have a short effect due to the large number of players on the market.

6. Rejection of low-margin retail. The agreement between operators to reduce the excess number of communication salons has a positive effect on margins. For Russian operators, the indicator of "net outflow" of the subscriber base is historically 50-60% per year. In this regard, a decrease in sales of actually non-working contracts can significantly increase margins. However, the duration of the concluded "truce" remains in question.

In general, 2017 was the year of recovery of the Russian mobile communications market after the fall for the period 2014-2016. Nevertheless, in the medium term, the market situation retains negative potential. So, regardless of the market strategy and the dynamics of real wages of the population, pricing in the market with four federal players obviously implies a lower margin compared to the previously established oligopoly of the "troika." Probably, the first consequences of the newly aggravated competition have already manifested themselves in the 4th quarter of 2017 and in this regard caused the greatest damage to the margin of Megafon.

Taking into account the formed medium-term trends, overly oversold shares of mobile operators are of interest for investments, offering high dividend yields for this reason. At the same time, it is worth focusing on companies with diversification outside the Russian jurisdiction, which is poorly predictable in terms of regulation and macroeconomic trends. Among the three public companies in the sector, we recommend VEON securities with a target of $3.8 per ADS + 33% dividend (investment idea "VEON - Dividends will grow" from 28.02.2018).

Accounts Chamber: Communication rises in price with acceleration

Communication services in Russia began to rise in price at a rate that exceeds the average value of price increases and service tariffs in various industries. This is evidenced by the operational report of the Accounts Chamber in June 2017 on the progress in the execution of the federal budget from January to May 2017^[49].

During this period, according to the supervisory authority, among the observed types of services, communication rose in price by 2.4%, which is significantly higher than the average growth rate of services, which was 1.3%. A year ago, in May 2016, with an average increase in prices for services of 2.2% (in the period from January 2016), communication tariffs increased by 2.1%. What exactly the Accounts Chamber means by communication services is not specified in the document.

Among other fastest-selling industries, the Accounts Chamber allocates medical services, prices for which increased by 2.3%, although for the same period in 2016 they added 4.5% at once. The department recorded an even greater increase in tariffs in the field of preschool education - by 3.3% (7.6% for a comparable time a year earlier) and by passenger transport - by 4.9% (5.8% last year).

This increase in prices occurs against the background of inflation, which since the beginning of 2017 in May amounted to 1.7%, which is 1.2 percentage points lower than in May 2016 (2.9%). At the same time, price growth in May 2017 compared to May 2016 amounted to 4.1% - 3.2 percentage points lower than the same indicator of the previous year (7.3%).

2016

J’son & Partners Consulting

According to J'son & Partners Consulting (Jason & Partners Consulting), as of the end of 2016, cellular penetration in Russia amounted to about 178%, which is equivalent to 257 million subscribers. Thus, the growth of the subscriber base compared to the results of 2015 amounted to 2%. The market is showing signs of saturation. Basically, the growth of the subscriber base is now provided by subscribers of the mobile Internet (including M2M connections)^[50]

Assessment of the competitive situation

After the operator "" joined the "Big Three" of cellular operators three years ago, and Tele2 after the sales of branches of a large regional independent player - the Smarts group of companies - of the Russian Federation the oligopoly "Big Four," which forms about 99% of the cellular market, obviously developed for a long time.

The main trends in the Russian cellular market

Redistribution of income of mobile operators by service type

Classic mobile services - voice calls and SMS - have been declining over the past few years. At the same time, the loss of income from these services is compensated by an increase in revenue from the provision of mobile data services. This trend is typical for both the Russian and global mobile communications markets. With the Russian mobile market close to saturation, mobile data transmission is becoming one of the key services of mobile operators, allowing both to increase the total subscriber base and compensate for the decrease in revenues from traditional operator services.

Growth in the share of batch tariff plans

With the development of the mobile Internet, the popularity of packet tariff plans with the included minutes of conversations, Internet traffic and SMS messages is growing. Operators actively promote package offers that bring them higher and stable monthly income than subscribers paying directly for a perfect service (call, sent message, etc.). In addition, in 2016, convergent tariff plans continued to develop, including fixed and mobile services of one operator and capable of significantly reducing the outflow of subscribers.

Growing popularity of communication and content OTT services

The development of over-the-top communication services is one of the reasons for the decrease in the consumption of voice and SMS services by subscribers of cellular networks, and the increase in the penetration of such services continues. In the future, this will further reduce the consumption of voice and messages in cellular networks.

At the same time, the number of popular OTT services is growing, which are services - substitutes for various additional services provided by operators, primarily content services. This reduces the ability of operators to provide additional services that can increase the subscriber's ARPU.

Development of M2M

The growth rate of mobile M2M connections in Russia remains quite high, which indicates that the market is in the initial stage of development and has great development potential. Currently, M2M connections account for about 4% of the subscriber base of cellular operators in Russia.

Development of Big Data by mobile operators

Russian mobile operators are interested in the development of Big Data due to tougher competition in the market from third-party OTT services, as well as due to a decrease in revenues. While the importance of information, its accumulation, storage security in modern business society is growing, and the cost of technology is decreasing, operators intend to gain a foothold in this market segment.

It is worth noting that Russian mobile operators have a number of advantages over third-party Big Data providers:

• operators have a portrait of the subscriber who uses his services, characteristics of his consumer behavior, as well as data on geolocation;
• operators have the opportunity to invest in the development of this technology through the proceeds from traditional communication services;
• operators have a developed infrastructure.

It is worth noting that while mobile operators implement Big Data cases mainly in the internal environment, in connection with which internal sources of monetization bring the main effect. Business diversification

Due to the approach of the market to the saturation stage, the competition between operators is aggravated. In 2016, all the Big Three operators showed a decrease in revenue from mobile services. Mobile operators are starting to search for new sources of income that are not directly related to the provision of communication services.

For example, the operator MegaFon"" launched a bank card in 2016, the account of which is a mobile phone account. The turnover on bank cards MegaFon"" in 2016 amounted to 2 billion. rubles The average volume of transactions for one card per month is 11,300 rubles. In addition, MegaFon acquired a controlling stake VK (formerly Mail.ru Group) and in the future intends to create new products and services that combine the capabilities of mobile data transmission and digital technologies.

MTS and VimpelCom began to provide microloans to their subscribers, in cooperation with microfinance organizations.

Also, the VimpelCom company at the end of 2016 announced the launch of the Veon application, which combines the functions of a messenger and an aggregator of online services. The application should appear in Russia in the second quarter of 2017.

Inforgraphy Deloitte

The information graphic "Russian Cellular Market - 2016," prepared by Deloitte experts, ^[51]

B-brand smartphones in Russia are used by 37% of the population (we are talking about the main phone). According to this indicator, we are in the top 5 among the countries in which the survey was conducted. And although our main goal was to study the differences in the preferences of users of the first and second echelon models, it turned out that in many respects they are very similar, which is clearly illustrated by the infographic.

Cisco forecast: 8x growth in mobile traffic in Russia by 2020

In early February 2016, Cisco published a forecast for the development of the global and Russian mobile communications market. Mobile traffic is expected to skyrocket.

As experts from the American manufacturer of network equipment predict, by 2020 mobile communications in the Russian Federation will be used by population 87% against 85% 2015 year. The volume of Internet traffic generated by mobile devices will increase eightfold during this time, and smartphones will account for 85% of this traffic.

It also follows from the Cisco report that by 2020, three quarters of mobile traffic in Russia will load videos, while in 2015 this figure was. Traffic in LTE networks will increase 33 times, and its share in the total volume of mobile traffic will reach 65% against 16.5% in 2015.

By 2020, cloud applications will generate 91% of all mobile data traffic in the Russian market. By the end of 2015, it was about 82%. Traffic from devices carrying communication among themselves (Machine-to-Macine, M2M) will rise 24 times, amounting to 4% in the total volume of mobile traffic by 2020.

The volume of the Russian wearable electronics market, as predicted by Cisco, will grow to 25.5 million devices by 2020, of which 1.1 million devices will be equipped with built-in cellular communications.

The Cisco forecast also contains data on the global market. In 2015, there were 4.8 billion subscribers of mobile operators worldwide, and by 2020 their number will increase to 5.5 billion. At the same time, the number of connections to mobile networks will increase during this time from 7.9 to 11.6 billion. By 2020, the volume of mobile traffic should increase 10 times, reaching 366.8 Ebytes. That roughly equates to 81tn photos or 7tn videos.

2015

Higher School of Economics

The cellular communication market in Russia has practically exhausted the possibility of extensive development. Every second Russian goes online daily. Such data are provided in the bulletin published by the Higher School of Economics with the results of the Information Society Monitoring for the period 2010-2015^[52].

Russia has one of the highest cellular distribution rates in the world - 151 active subscribers per 100 people of the population, which exceeds the level of developed countries by a quarter (120), developing countries by two-thirds (91). The density of fixed communications in our country is low - 27 devices per 100 people of the population (in developed countries - 40). Thus, today the number of active cellular subscribers in Russia is one and a half times larger than the population. As a result, this market has practically exhausted the possibilities of extensive development: the absolute number of subscribers increased by only 1.2% in 2014, the relative number (per 100 people of the population) almost did not change and amounted to 99.5% by 2013. At the same time, cellular traffic increased by 3% compared to 2013.

As noted in the study, the development of cellular communication is closely related to providing access to, to the Internet the ability to transmit content, high-quality sound and other communication components. In 2015, 46% of households in the world had access to the Internet, including 81% in developed countries and 34% in developing countries. Compared to 2010, this figure increased by 15-18 percentage points. Penetration Internet into Russian families has been more active: over the past five years, the share of households with access to the network has grown by 22 percentage points - from 48 to 70%. The achieved level is higher than the averages for the CIS countries, the Americas, the Middle East, other regions of the world, but 12 percentage points lower than the European one.

According to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the global Internet audience exceeded 3 billion people, making up 43% of the world's population. In Russia, every second Russian aged 15-72 years (52%) goes online daily. In general, in 2014, the Internet audience amounted to 70% of the population of the considered age group. In terms of the annual audience of the Internet, Russia, as well as its presence in households, lags behind the average values ​ ​ in Europe, ahead of other regions.

Inforgraphy Deloitte

Infographics "Russian Cellular Market - 2015," prepared by experts from Deloitte, CIS.

2013: Head of the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications: oligopoly has developed in the mobile market

In November 2013, the head of the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications Nikolay Nikiforov made a report at a government meeting on the state of competition in the telecommunications market.

Formally, 77 mobile operators operate in Russia today. However, this figure does not reflect the real picture, because often it is an operator operating under the same brand, affiliated legal entities. In general, the ministry allocates about five large federal operators and a little more than 20 small regional players who provided coverage for almost all major settlements in the country. Thus, in settlements with a population of from 50 thousand people everywhere there is a competitive situation.

The minister also stated that an oligopoly has developed in the mobile market today and competition between large players is actually slowing down. New players do not appear primarily due to the limitations of the radio frequency resource itself by nature. In addition, the growth potential of the subscriber base has been exhausted. In 2012, more than 260 million active SIM cards were registered, while operators lack direct market incentives for the development of communication networks in remote regions, where at least 20-25% of the population lives.

2012

2G will live in Russia for 10-15 years

According to TAdviser in the cellular companies of the Big Three (VimpelCom, MTS, MegaFon), only a third of the operators' subscribers use phones and other devices that support the third generation network, not to mention LTE.

Spokeswoman MegaFon Yulia Dorokhina, in an interview with TAdviser, said that about 70% of the company's subscribers use 2G phones, and only 30% use devices that support the third generation. MTS "There are about a third of 3G users on the network," spokeswoman MTS Valeria Kuzmenko told TAdviser. Spokeswoman VimpelCom Anna Aibasheva said that among the company's subscribers, 3G users occupy less than half.

"The mobile operator Tele2 does not have 3G licenses, so the company operates in second-generation networks," communications market expert Alexander Bakhorin told TAdviser. According to him, the penetration rate of smartphones among Tele2 subscribers is 13-14%, the penetration rate of telephones supporting the third generation network is 20-25% depending on the region.

Prospects for 2G networks in Russia

Experts and analysts interviewed by TAdviser unanimously said that in the medium term, 2G networks in Russia are not in danger of being disconnected.

Bakhorin is confident that in the next 4-5 years, the second generation network will be the main channel for voice and SMS.

According to Aibasheva, the 2G shutdown is possible only in the event of a sharp and universal transition to 3G, which is unlikely to happen. She avoided answering the question about the possible timing of the 2G rejection, saying that everything would depend on the speed of penetration of the third generation among subscribers.

"According to our estimates, the shutdown of the GSM network will not occur in Russia for about 10-15 years. This is one of the simplest and most inexpensive communication standards in the world, with which it is convenient not only in the "home" network, but also in the roaming zone, "says Julia Dorokhina from Megafon.

iKS-consulting analyst Maxim Savvatin is confident that 2G will not be turned off at all in Russia. VimpelCom in the Far East is still putting into operation the 2G. "The potential of this generation has not been fully exhausted, so it is economically unprofitable," Savvatin told TAdviser.

Cost of cellular services for corporate clients

• Cost of cellular services for corporate clients in 83 regions of Russia (June 2012)

2011: Cellular penetration rate 156.8%

According to the AC&M Consulting company the level of penetration of cellular communication in Russia as of December 31, 2011 was 156.8% that is 0.9% more, than in November, 2011. At the same time, uro­ven pro­nik­no­ve­niya communications so­to­voy in Moscow so­sta­vil 212.1%, and in St. Pe­ter­bur­ge - 215.6%. Total number of subscribers of cellular communication in the territory of Russia was 227.62 million users.

• MTS - 105.8 million pol­zo­va­te­ley.
• VimpelCom - 101.7 million
• Megafon - 62.66 million
• T2 (T2 Mobile, T2 RTK Holding) previously Tele2 - 20.63 million
• Rostelecom - 12.6 million,
• "Motive" - 2.22 million,
• SMARTS - 1.92 million,
• Sky Link - 1.355 million

2010

MTS leads in the number of subscribers - 69.7 million

According to the results of April 2010, Megafon served 52.04 million subscribers in Russia, and VimpelCom - only 50.83 million, according to a published report by the research company Advanced & Communications & Media. The leader remains MTS, which served 69.7 million subscribers. Recently, Megafon has very actively increased its market share, it is no coincidence that over the past two years it has led in net subscriber growth (sales minus outflow) in Russia and caught up with VimpelCom, says Anton Pogrebinsky, partner at AC & M-Consulting.

"In 2002, the number of Megafon subscribers in Russia was almost half that of our main competitors. Changing this situation in such a short time is, first of all, the result of the consistent implementation of a development strategy aimed not only at increasing the company's value for shareholders, but also at creating values ​ ​ for our consumers, customers and employees, "Megafon CEO Sergei Soldatenkov said through the press service

.

Dmitry Pleskonos, VimpelCom Executive Vice President for Mass Market Development in Russia, associates these changes with the very strict accounting policy for active subscribers adopted by the company in early 2008. By active subscriber, the company means a client using paid services at least once in three months, he says. And subscribers who replenished the balance, but did not use the services for the reporting period, are not taken into account, as well as customers who simply pay for saving the number. The rest of the Russian operators have different principles for counting real subscribers, so all comparisons of operators for this indicator are incorrect, Pleskonos believes. But Megafon, which also takes into account subscribers every three months, adheres to the same strict system, its representative says.

For investors, the number of subscribers has long been not the most important characteristic of the operator, says Deutsche Bank analyst Igor Semenov. Nevertheless, Megafon in the first quarter increased revenue (by 10.8% compared to a year ago. - "Vedomosti") - it means that the company manages to transform the growth of the subscriber base into income growth, he notes. New subscribers are not necessarily "paper," says Ivan Kim, his colleague from Renaissance Capital. These include people buying a modem for wireless Internet access, which bring operators above average income.

A year ago, Soldatenkov named the company's goal - to become the leader of the cellular "Big Three" in terms of revenue from mobile services in Russia. So far, the company has approached second place: Megafon's share in the Russian mobile revenue of the Big Three was 2009 in the IV quarter of 32.4%, and VimpelCom was 33%, Kim notes. He does not exclude that Megafon will become the second in terms of revenue, but there will be no significant redistribution of operators' market shares.

Отчёт Credit Suisse: Russian Wireless Sector

• Credit Suisse: Russian Wireless Sector, September 2010

1991: First cell phone call in Russia

The first cell phone call in Russia took place on the Delta Telecom network, which was annexed to Tele2 in 2015 as a result of the integration of Rostelecom's mobile assets.

On September 9, 1991, St. Petersburg Mayor Anatoly Sobchak called his colleague in New York. The communication was provided by Delta Telecom and worked on the basis of the NMT-450 standard.

The historic call was made Nokia from the Mobira MD59-NB2, which weighed 3 kilograms. The cost of the device was almost 2 thousand, and dollars USA a minute of conversation cost one dollar. A few months after the first mobile phone call, in December 1991, cellular communications appeared in Moscow. The Moscow Cellular Operator began to provide communication services to metropolitan subscribers. In June 2015, MSS OJSC and Delta Telecom CJSC were merged into T2 Mobile LLC (Tele2 brand).

Notes