Khinshtein announced the liberation of Russians from “Internet slavery”

Residents of high-rise buildings will be able to choose their own provider

70% of households are deprived of the opportunity to choose an Internet provider. Such disappointing statistics were voiced by the head of the Duma Committee on Information Policy Alexander Khinshtein. By the will of the management companies, people ended up in real telecom slavery. Residents agree to a slow and expensive connection, unable to change anything. Which of the providers to let into the house, and who to point to the door, is decided by the public utilities.

“Mess!” – this is how Alexander Khinshtein briefly and succinctly described the situation with the telecom services market. However, even this field can now be called a market with a big stretch. The sphere of “home Internet” has turned into a monopoly by the prayers of management companies, and by no means a natural one.

On paper, everything looks beautiful. 84% of Russian households are connected to the Internet. Only 16% of the country’s inhabitants do not yet have access to the global web from home computers. Moreover, from year to year Russia is consistently in the top five countries with the cheapest and fastest home Internet.

But here’s the problem: just a couple of years ago, we were on the second line in the ranking of the leading states in terms of Internet accessibility for citizens. And in 2022, they suddenly fell two lines lower. Why did it happen?

For Duma members and Mintsifra the answer is obvious: the telecom market is being actively and inexorably monopolized.

The head of the Ministry of Digital Development, Maksut Shadayev, explained that 4.8 thousand Internet providers are currently operating in Russia. That is, the reason for the monopolization of the market is not at all that there is no one to pull networks into the apartments of citizens:

Since 2016, the problem has not been solved. There were three instructions from the President. And if in the first we saw a general wording about the need to ensure non-discriminatory access for providers to residential buildings, then in the latter it is specifically stated: access for providers should be free of charge and without a meeting of owners. If there are three telecom operators in the house, good. 20 will be even better. The more, the cheaper the connection will be. But now we have only one operator in every fifth house. Even if there are two, it’s not a choice.

Today, there is no question of any free choice of a provider for residents.

– Providing high-quality Internet in the apartments of citizens is often hindered by the unjustifiably privileged position of operators and the actions of management companies. Moreover, according to the VTsIOM poll, 76% of residents would like to choose operators themselves, and not those who are imposed on them, – Alexander Khinshtein commented on the current state of affairs at parliamentary hearings in the lower house.

The parliamentarians see the problem in excessively overloaded rules. For example, according to the current Housing Code, for the placement of Internet communication equipment in houses, a decision must be made by 2/3 of apartment owners at a general meeting. But in fact, most apartment owners are familiar with general meetings only from the frames of the film “Garage”.

— According to a poll by VTsIOM, only 26% of residents regularly participate in general meetings. 35% participated 1-2 times. 24% have never been to such events. 13% answered that there had never been meetings of residents in their house, Khinshtein said.

House managers play into the hands of the passivity of the residents. Utilities got a real opportunity to crush the market of telecom services for themselves. To get the status of the chosen one, admitted to work in the house, providers pay huge sums of money to management companies. Last year, according to the State Duma and the Ministry of Digital Development, operators gave management companies 20 billion rubles. This is five billion less than annually allocated from the budget to finance the Internet in government and social institutions. Further, the invisible hand of the market begins to smear these costs of operators on customer payments. As a result, tenants get the Internet expensive, but not always fast. Where is the hurry? There are still no competitors.

– In a new building in New Moscow, for 40 megabits per second, the provider takes 600 rubles a month. It’s not speed at all. For comparison, in the neighboring area, residents receive 500 megabits per second for the same money, – said the representative of the FAS.

Parliamentarians have already figured out how to free Russians from telecom slavery. A bill on non-discriminatory access of operators to apartment buildings has been submitted to the lower house. Here’s what he proposes. The first is the rejection of general meetings of tenants. Each apartment owner will be able to conclude an agreement with the provider directly. Secondly, the telecom operator will not pay a penny to public utilities, except for compensation for the electricity spent. Thirdly, all providers will work according to uniform standards for placing networks and equipment. In addition, the authors of the bill propose until 2024 to introduce a moratorium on increasing fees for the use of state and municipal property by telecom operators for the placement of telecommunications equipment.

“This will provide conditions for the freedom of citizens to choose those telecom operators that best meet their requirements. In addition, free competition in the market will be ensured, which will entail a reduction in the cost of communication services, Khinshtein explained.