A lot of roaming from nothing – Kommersant
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Kommersant learned that the issue of abolishing international roaming on the territory of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), which Kazakhstan opposed on April 24, is not yet being discussed. It was previously assumed that the operators of the member states of the union will be able to reduce tariffs for roaming calls by 2025. Kazakh telecom operators have said that this threatens to increase prices for local calls. The interlocutors of Kommersant, who are familiar with the situation, indicate that the abolition of roaming in the EAEU is so difficult to implement even technically that it is not to be expected in the near future.
A Kommersant source close to the Russian government said that the issue of abolishing international roaming on the territory of the EAEU is not being discussed. Earlier April 24 Sputnik Kazakhstan reported with reference to the statement of the Ministry of Digital Development of the Republic that Kazakhstani telecom operators opposed the abolition of international roaming with the EAEU countries. The operators explained this by the fact that the transition to a fair tariff (payment for communication services in international roaming, which corresponds to a level as close as possible to the tariff in the “home” network) can lead to loss of income. The ministry also noted that cellular companies technically cannot organize direct connections with operators in other countries and work only through international communication operators.
The fact that Russia intends to cancel international cellular roaming with the EAEU members Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia by 2025, with reference to the annex to the request of the Eurasian Economic Commission sent to all major mobile operators of the allied states and the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia, was reported in March Vedomosti.
The interlocutor of Kommersant in the government noted that in order to bring roaming tariffs to a level as close as possible to “home”, it is necessary to reduce rates for the passage of voice traffic between the member states of the EAEU and roaming rates between telecom operators: “This is a complex process, it requires additional elaboration on the part of all member states of the Union”.
At the same time, the commercial director of Beeline Kyrgyzstan, Alexander Atamanov, told Kommersant that the operators of the republic, within the framework of the working group, are discussing with the authorities the possibility of reducing tariffs for organizing roaming services:
“Some costs can be minimized, for example, by building direct connections with each mobile operator of the EAEU member countries, some will remain, since third parties are involved to organize and service operators’ roaming.”
At the same time, he emphasizes, the main problem is that the issue of compensating the lost revenues of operators is not discussed: “At the same time, operators are forced to bear the costs associated with the maintenance of networks, interconnect (organization of mutual settlements between operators.— “b”), organization of roaming services”.
According to Mr. Atamanov, only after calculating the costs of local operators, “the threshold of the so-called fair roaming tariff can be understood”: “There is an example from Europe, where the reduction in roaming prices was achieved by increasing the prices for local calls. This option is also possible, but it will be negatively perceived by the market itself and regulators.” On average, according to him, for the year the increase in the number of roaming subscribers in the republic amounted to 25-30%.
According to Kommersant’s interlocutor in the Russian telecom market, the situation with the abolition of roaming in Kazakhstan may be delayed: “The republic intends to look closely for some time at how other members of the EAEU, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan, will behave.” But the whole process, in his opinion, can take up to three years: “The main stumbling block, as in the case of lowering prices for roaming with Belarus, will be the interconnection rates, due to the reduction of which, with equal tariffs, Belarus has to pay Russia for about five times more”. Since April 1, Russia and Belarus have canceled the fee for incoming calls to mobile numbers in roaming.
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