+7Telecom starts selling SIM cards in the DPR

The Crimean communications operator K-Telecom, which operates in the new regions of the Russian Federation under the +7Telecom brand, is launching the sale of SIM cards in the DPR. It will become the third telecom operator in the region: a local Republican Telecom Operator (Phoenix) is currently operating in the DPR and is only planning to launch the Miranda Media network. +7Telecom’s subscriber base is unlikely to exceed 1 million, experts say, noting that the operator will have to invest in infrastructure, contact centers, marketing and sales channels at relatively low rates.

The structure of the Crimean operator K-Telecom, operating in the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions under the +7Telecom brand, began working on the territory of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), the company told Kommersant. Sale of SIM-cards with free connection “+7Telecom” will open in the near future in Donetsk, Mariupol and other cities. For the new region, a tariff of 300 rubles / month will apply, which will include 1000 min. voice communication, 500 sms, as well as 15 GB of internet.

The company explained that the tariff will be valid both for communication between +7Telecom subscribers and for calls to other operators of the DPR, LPR, Crimea and the Krasnodar Territory. When connecting with subscribers of other operators of the Russian Federation, the cost of a call will be 3 rubles / min., calls to numbers of operators of other countries (including the CIS) will cost 50 rubles / min., calls to numbers of all operators in Ukraine – 15 rubles / min. .

Now the Phoenix operator (Republican Telecom Operator) is operating in the DPR, and a “single operator” of new territories should enter this market, which should become Miranda Media (19.9% ​​owned by Rostelecom) (see . “Kommersant” dated March 13). The project to create a “single operator” assumed that it would form an alternative backbone traffic that would eliminate the monopoly in the communication markets in the territories of the DPR, LPR, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions. Kommersant’s interlocutors, familiar with the local market, predicted that Miranda Media could absorb Phoenix, since the regional government could not develop the asset.

The Ministry of Digital Transformation told Kommersant that now Miranda-Media and K-Telecom are actively building and integrating infrastructure development in the regions: “The operators determine plans for the development of their own communication networks on their own based on commercial expediency.” Frequencies for work in the DPR and LPR on 2G, 3G and 4G communication standards were allocated by K-Telecom in May for three years (see Kommersant dated May 24). The Ministry of Digital Transformation reminded that according to the terms of allocation of frequencies, K-Telecom will have to cover priority settlements and routes with communications within three years. The situation is similar with Miranda Media, “this will create the necessary level of competition,” the ministry added.

Based on the activity of the population of new regions in various sectors of the economy, for example, in the field of financial services, the subscriber base of K-Telecom will not exceed 1 million people in the near future, Aisa Badaeva, director of S + Consulting, believes. Among the main restrictions on the development of this market for telecom companies are low-margin tariffs in comparison with those that operate throughout Russia, an average of 300 rubles. against 500 rubles, as well as the need to build a support infrastructure from scratch, namely the work of contact centers, marketing and sales channels, she explains.

Telecom equipment can become the main problem in organizing communication coverage, recalls Aleksey Slukin, editor of the specialized Telegram channel Telecommunalka: “Operators will need to deploy their own infrastructure in the face of complicated equipment logistics and its unstable support by vendors.” In addition, he recalls, the local infrastructure is constantly experiencing problems with electricity, as well as core networks.

Tatyana Isakova