Communication fixes grants - Newspaper Kommersant No. 222 (7423) dated 11/30/2022

Communication fixes grants - Newspaper Kommersant No. 222 (7423) dated 11/30/2022



A number of communication providers are asking the government to allocate more than 11 billion rubles. for the development and production of equipment for fixed communication networks. In general, the replacement of profile solutions from Huawei, Cisco, Mikrotik will require 31.5 billion rubles, the main part of the funds is ready to be invested by ER-Telecom. Without the replacement of technology, the quality of communication for the population and public services will decrease, operators say. According to Kommersant, the Ministry of Finance opposes the allocation of funds, but the Ministry of Industry and Trade can support developers as part of subsidizing R&D for electronic equipment.

Kommersant got acquainted with 30 project passports of the largest Russian telecom operators applying for government grants for the development of equipment and software for fixed communication networks. They want to replace the developments of Huawei, ZTE, Cisco, Juniper, Mikrotik, TP-link, Tenda and other foreign manufacturers that have stopped deliveries to Russia due to hostilities in Ukraine. The documents were sent to the Industrial Competence Center (ICC) "Fixed Communications", which is supervised by the Ministry of Digital Development.

The total cost of projects exceeds 31.5 billion rubles, of which customers are asking the authorities for more than 11 billion rubles. In 26 projects, ER-Telecom Holding is the key customer, in five of them Rostelecom is listed as a co-customer. Four more projects were submitted by TVEL, Miranda-Media and JSC Svyaztransneft. ER-Telecom estimates its projects as a whole at 27.5 billion rubles, of which about 4 billion rubles. expects to receive in the form of a grant.

We are talking about the development of a wide range of equipment and software, in particular Wi-Fi access points, broadband subscriber terminals using GPON ONT (Optical Network Terminal) technology, set-top boxes, systems for deep analysis of DPI traffic packets, virtualization tools (similar to American VMware software ), routers, switches, software and hardware systems for submarine communication lines, radio relay systems and other equipment. The applicants explain that due to problems with procurement from foreign developers, the quality of communication for the population and access to public services will decrease. Potential customers include MTS, MegaFon, Vimpelcom and other operators. MTS confirmed that the dependence on foreign equipment is high: “There are few domestic solutions. Where readiness for commissioning is high, improvements are needed.”

Marion, NAPA Labs, affiliated with ER-Telecom, Bureau of Information Technologies, controlled by Rostelecom, Elektra LLC and RTK-IT LLC, as well as a number of others, were named as the equipment developer for a number of projects. More than 20 projects have been approved by the ICC working group. In Rostelecom, Kommersant was told that they were starting to work on forward contracts, while ER-Telecom declined to comment.

However, a Kommersant source familiar with the situation claims that the Ministry of Finance does not support the allocation of funds for projects, so the Ministry of Digital Development is trying to develop an alternative support mechanism, for example, through preferences in public procurement (see Kommersant of November 25). The Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Digital Transformation did not respond to Kommersant. According to two Kommersant sources, the situation was discussed on November 29 at the Ministry of Industry and Trade and they are considering the possibility of allocating funds under government decree No. 109, which provides subsidies for R&D for the creation of electronic equipment. The Ministry of Industry and Trade did not answer Kommersant.

The annual sales of telecommunications equipment in the Russian market, according to the Association of Electronics Developers and Manufacturers (ARPE), exceeds $4 billion, of which $780 million falls on the domestic market. In total, according to the ARPE, equipment for broadband access, fixed wireless access and data transmission, PBX , backbone data transmission systems are developed and produced by about a hundred Russian enterprises.

A market source believes that out of 30 projects, only six are really needed. For the rest, according to him, there are already solutions, and the cost of developing the majority is "significantly overstated." However, the president of Zelax (produces domestic telecom equipment) Sergei Sukhman, on the contrary, calls the amount of 31.5 billion rubles. insufficient, emphasizing that “an order of magnitude more funds” are needed to solve the stated tasks, and even they do not guarantee success: “Simple products, like a Wi-Fi router, can be released in the Russian Federation, but not complex products, like core routers.” Telecommunication standards, the expert says, intentionally use inaccurate specifications, so the created equipment will simply be incompatible with devices from Huawei, Cisco, ZTE and other vendors.

Yulia Silence, Timofey Kornev, Nikita Korolyov



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