Management companies are raising prices for installing networks in homes

In different areas of Moscow, management organizations, including institutions of the State Budgetary Institution “Zhilishchnik”, have been terminating contracts with telecom operators since the summer for the placement of their networks in apartment buildings, offering to renegotiate them at a higher price, market participants said. At the beginning of the year, the Moscow Department of Information Technology (DIT) already called on prefectures to take action in connection with such actions of the State Budgetary Institution, since they would lead to an increase in communication prices. The Ministry of Digital Development intends to look into the situation.

Since the end of August, communication providers in several districts of the capital began to receive letters from the State Budgetary Institution “Zhilischnik” of Moscow in different areas about conducting checks of the legality of equipment placed in houses, design documentation, as well as requirements for the transfer of cables laid by air to an underground collector. Kommersant was told about this by the Association of Small Operators of Russia (AMOR, unites 80 communication providers). Kommersant got acquainted with the corresponding letters sent to about 40 providers in the capital.

A number of operators also received letters (Kommersant has them) about the termination of contracts with them from the State Budgetary Institution unilaterally, as well as new offer agreements with prices for the placement of communication infrastructure at 2 thousand rubles. for one house. In existing contracts, the cost was about 300–500 rubles. According to a Kommersant source familiar with the situation, operators faced a similar situation back at the end of 2022, and it is relevant not only for Moscow. Then, according to him, they contacted the Ministry of Digital Development and DIT of Moscow.

The Department of Housing and Communal Services and DIT of Moscow did not provide Kommersant with current comments. Previously, DIT expressed concern about similar actions of management companies. Thus, in a February letter from DIT to the prefectures of the administrative districts of Moscow (Kommersant has a copy of the document) it says: “As part of monitoring the activities of telecom operators in Moscow, facts of proactive actions of management organizations, in particular individual institutions of the State Budgetary Institution “Zhilishchnik”, were revealed to increase fees for placing communications networks and equipment in homes or forcing operators to enter into contracts for the provision of various services to operators by management companies.” It follows from the letter that the behavior of the management company “could destabilize the market for communication services for Moscow residents by increasing subscription fees.” The letter requests that measures be taken to prevent this from happening.

VimpelCom confirmed to Kommersant that there was a problem: “We are being offered to enter into new contracts that include the provision of additional services that we do not need. Due to these services, the cost of access to apartment buildings for the placement of communication equipment increases up to 7 times.” The company added that if they refuse to conclude an agreement on new terms, operators risk losing access to homes: “We offer a solution in the form of creating non-discriminatory conditions for interaction between management companies and telecom operators.”

MegaFon said that they also received from the State Budgetary Institution “Zhilischnik” notices of unilateral termination of contracts, as well as offers with new prices (2 thousand rubles per house) and additional services not directly related to the placement of equipment. “At the same time, we have recorded in a number of territories a restriction of access to telecom infrastructure by the State Budgetary Institution “Zhilischnik” during the consideration of documents,” MegaFon added.

According to information from Zhilischnik, the initiative with the termination and subsequent conclusion of new offers is related to the instructions of the prefecture, MegaFon added.

Some management companies “are trying to persuade operators to enter into new contracts before the law comes into force obliging the free placement of operators’ equipment in residential buildings,” MTS told Kommersant. This is implied by amendments to the Law “On Communications” and the Housing Code of the Russian Federation, adopted in the first reading in June.

As an interlocutor in the telecom market explains to Kommersant, now, while the amendments have not yet entered into force, the legality of the actions of the State Budgetary Institution depends on the specific conditions written in the contract with the operator: “Some contracts do not provide for unilateral termination. It’s a more complicated story if the contract has expired and needs to be renewed.” The head of AMOR, Dmitry Galushko, noted that an increase in fees by 4-7 times will not only increase the price of the Internet in Moscow, but also limit competition: “Some small operators, already burdened with regulatory requirements, will not be able to pay an economically unreasonable price for access to homes and will leave the market.”

The Ministry of Digital Development told Kommersant that they have not yet received any requests from operators on the issue of increasing prices under contracts with the state budgetary institution Zhilischnik. They clarified that they would request information from operators in order to understand the situation. “The bill on free access for operators to apartment buildings will help avoid such situations,” the ministry hopes.

Yulia Tishina