Licensing rules in the field of communication services are seriously tightened

Licensing in the field of communication services is being seriously tightened: in order to obtain permission, operators will have to approve with Roskomnadzor a scheme for passing traffic through technical means of countering threats that they are required to put under the law on “sovereign runet”. For violation of the scheme, the order of using frequencies and other conditions, Roskomnadzor may terminate the license. If this happens, operators will have to turn off equipment that was not working properly. Now they can only receive an administrative fine. Companies fear that the new requirements will have a negative impact on network connectivity.

“Kommersant” studied amendments to the law “On Communications”, adopted by the State Duma in the second reading on July 25. The document was introduced by the government on July 14, it was recommended for adoption in the third reading by the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, Communications and IT. The amendments suggest that telecom operators will receive radio frequencies by making an entry in a special register maintained by Roskomnadzor. The department did not answer “Kommersant” before the delivery of the material.

The list of licensing requirements for the provision of communication services includes the condition for compliance with the scheme for passing traffic through technical means of countering threats (TSPU), which telecom operators must install on the network under the law on the “sovereign Internet”.

This scheme is consistent with Roskomnadzor. It also establishes requirements for the operation and management of networks in terms of the use of contractor services by operators.

The telecom operator will now be able to start providing services only after the installation of TSPU. If it passes traffic of a third-party operator on its network, then it must ensure the installation of TSPUs that provide speeds of more than 10 Gb / s. The new requirements extend the installation of TSPU to traffic exchange points.

Companies must provide the regulator with a description of networks and means of communication (that is, base stations), if it is planned to use the radio frequency spectrum for TV and radio broadcasting, cable TV broadcasting and wired radio broadcasting, voice information transmission (IP telephony, Voice over LTE, VoWiFi – transmission of voice information over LTE or Wi-Fi networks), provision of communication channels that go beyond the territory of the subject of the Russian Federation or outside the country.

If the operator violates the conditions for issuing licenses, in particular, does not comply with the traffic flow scheme, Roskomnadzor can “terminate” the license.

Now, a market source explains, a license can only be canceled by a court decision, and Roskomnadzor issues a fine for violations.

The explanatory note notes that the new requirements for maintaining a register of radio frequencies are due to violations of their use (in 2019 alone, 30.6 thousand of them were identified, 65.8 thousand protocols on an administrative offense were formed).

As Kommersant’s interlocutor in the market clarifies, earlier, operators, in order to obtain a license and permission to build a network, after agreeing on its scheme, sent only an application to Roskomnadzor with the exact installation location and altitude, since this is important from the point of view of electromagnetic compatibility – “this is necessary for operation in all licensed bands, including 2G, 3G, 4G”. MTS, MegaFon, VimpelCom and Tele2 declined to comment.

Often, the operator does not build the network himself, and it is the work of the contractor that leads to violations, notes Alexei Slukin, editor of the profile Telecommunalka Telegram channel, “therefore, large companies pledged several hundred million rubles in fines in advance.” Now Roskomnadzor receives the authority to suspend the license, the expert emphasizes, that is, the operator will have to turn off the base station, which works with violations. And if their number reaches 30,000, as in 2019, this will “seriously affect the connectivity of networks.”

Kommersant’s interlocutor in a large operator is also primarily concerned that Roskomnadzor is receiving the authority to “terminate the license” out of court.

“Two grounds are of particular concern – the failure to submit a report on the operator’s activities to Roskomnadzor and non-compliance with the scheme for passing traffic through TSPU. In the application for a license and with each renewal, it will be necessary to indicate the scheme agreed with the regulator, although the equipment has been operating for more than a year,” he says.

According to another Kommersant source, the draft amendments duplicate the regulation under the law “on sovereign Runet”, which “creates additional administrative barriers.”

Operators of traffic exchange points also see risks in the new requirements. Nikolay Metlyuk, founder of Piter-IX, believes that they can lead to higher costs, since the installation of TSPU equipment will require additional racks that need to be maintained and connected to the power supply. “This may require several hundred thousand or million rubles a month, given that traffic exchange points are usually decentralized, located in several cities,” he notes. Evgeny Morozov, General Director of MSK-IX, emphasizes that when implementing the new rules, it is important to avoid the double passage of the same traffic through the TSPU of several operators and traffic exchange points.

The head of the consulting company “Ordercom” Dmitry Galushko draws attention to the fact that, according to the amendments, the communication license could be suspended for up to three months due to “gross violations of the requirements.” The latter were installed by the government as part of a Decree of December 2020, including the installation of means of SORM operational-search activities. The expert believes that, in general, the new licensing requirements will strengthen the consolidation of the communications market in the regions – “small operators, of which there are more than 5 thousand in the country, will begin to go into the gray zone or close their business.”

Yulia Tishina, Yuri Litvinenko