In the North-West of the Russian Federation, LTE is blocked to configure security systems

The authorities of the Leningrad, Novgorod and Pskov regions announced that until January 30, 4G communications will be turned off in the regions at night. According to official information, the outages are related to “carrying out technical work to reconfigure the radio frequency spectrum of transmitting equipment.” Kommersant’s sources explain that the work is being carried out by order of the Ministry of Digital Development for the needs of law enforcement agencies, in particular the additional adjustment of anti-drone systems. Operators note citizen complaints about communication problems, and experts talk about the risks of failures in payment processing and video surveillance systems.

Governor of the Pskov Region Mikhail Vedernikov, the Ministry of Digital Development of the Novgorod Region, as well as the Digital Development Committee of the Leningrad Region reported that from January 25 to 30 from 23:00 to 6:00, 4G mobile Internet (LTE) will not work in the regions. According to the official version, the outages are related to technical work on setting up the radio frequency spectrum.

The government of the Voronezh region tells Kommersant that similar work is going on there too, they are “planned at the federal level.” Kommersant’s interlocutor in one of the Black Earth Regions clarified that “the same thing is happening in many regions, but the pace may vary due to technical aspects.” At the same time, for example, the Ministry of Digital Development of the Kursk Region reported that “no work is planned” in this region.

“According to the official version, it is understood that frequencies are being refarmed, but in this case, not a single operator, even at night, will turn off the entire network,” emphasizes Alexey Slukin, editor of the specialized Telegram channel “Telekommunalka.” “Refarming is carried out from site to site.” site. At a minimum, contractors do not have the resources to work across the entire region using all four operators at once. This is probably due to security issues.”

Three sources in large telecom operators clarified to Kommersant that the Internet is limited at the request of the authorities: “There is an order from the Ministry of Digital Development. The operator’s equipment is working correctly, there is no need for outages on our side.” According to one of Kommersant’s interlocutors, it was necessary to disable LTE to “adjust the equipment of law enforcement agencies for anti-drone and air defense.” Kommersant’s interlocutor in the industry believes that in the case of the North-West of the Russian Federation, increased security was required in connection with the president’s trips: on January 26, he arrived in St. Petersburg on the eve of the anniversary of the lifting of the siege of Leningrad.

As a source in one of the telecom operators clarified to Kommersant, it was initially assumed that LTE communications in the regions would be disabled not only at night, but also during the day.

From the data of the Sboy.ru service (analyzes subscribers’ complaints about the work of Internet services and telecom operators), it follows that the share of St. Petersburg of all complaints in Russia over the last 24 hours was 13% for Tele2, 23% for MTS, VimpelCom – 18%, MegaFon – 35%. The share of the Novgorod region in failures was for Tele2 – 2%, for MTS – 1%, for VimpelCom – 1%, for MegaFon – 0%. The share of the Pskov region in the total number of complaints from MTS was 2%; there is no data for other operators. The service did not note any abnormal peaks in complaints. “Disconnection at night is a compromise, however, we still receive complaints from both individuals and legal subscribers,” clarifies Kommersant’s interlocutor at one of the operators.

In addition to inconvenience for subscribers and reputational damage for operators, shutdowns of LTE services can interrupt the operation of dedicated corporate networks and telematics applications that require a broadband connection, explains Alexey Boyko, an analyst at the abloud62 Telegram channel. “For example, video surveillance and video analytics systems whose cameras are connected wirelessly may not work,” he says.

A Kommersant source in the telecommunications equipment market clarifies that the work of payment services may be complicated, there are risks of problems with non-cash payments through terminals or when withdrawing money through ATMs that do not have a wired or Wi-Fi connection, “if the connection is bad or it is turned off , ATMs are switching to 2G or 3G.” However, he admits, “turning off at night significantly reduces the negative effect on businesses and subscribers.”

As Sergei Polovnikov, head of Content Review, explains to Kommersant, devices of previous telematics or M2M standards (for example, gate or barrier opening sensors, housing and communal services sensors) now operate on 3G. A newer Internet of Things standard often used in industrial plants, NBIoT, operates at LTE frequencies. Accordingly, if the LTE standard is turned off, the Internet of Things may also stop working, although “in the case of predictable outages at night, this should not create big problems.”

They do not expect systemic problems in the market and from the installation of protective systems itself. Stationary anti-drone systems also include special-purpose electronic warfare stations, which have been installed at critical infrastructure facilities in the last year, explains Kommersant’s interlocutor in one of the UAV developers. They operate at frequencies permitted by the SCRF, therefore, when commissioning, it is required that there is no interference from other frequency users, including mobile operators. “In the future, antidrone systems can operate in the same range as operator equipment. But if they work indiscriminately, they will interfere with mobile data transmission,” he explains.

Alexey Zhabin, Yulia Tishina; Oleg Mukhin, Voronezh