Neither the village nor the city – Newspaper Kommersant No. 162 (7363) dated 09/05/2022

The shortage of equipment began to affect national programs in the field of digitalization. Thus, plans to equip remote and small villages with 4G communications almost fell through this year due to a shortage of hundreds of base stations. The pace was maintained by organizing the sharing of existing stations by different operators, but the issue of shortage has not been resolved. In the future, the authorities are counting on Russian equipment, the production of which, however, has not yet been established. Kommersant’s sources say that the development of the domestic station will take about two years, and the deployment of mass production – another year and a half.

“Kommersant” got acquainted with the letter of the Ministry of Digital Transformation to ANO “Tsifrovaya ekonomika”, FGBU “Center for Expertise and Coordination of Informatization” (FGBU TsEKI) and Rostelecom Competence Center dated August 19. The Ministry proposed to adjust the federal project “Information Infrastructure” of the national program “Digital Economy”.

In particular, the Ministry of Digital Transformation asked to reduce the number of remote sparsely populated areas (with a population of 100–500 people) that will be equipped with broadband Internet access in 2022. The current parameters of the project (“Kommersant” discovered it on the portal of state programs of the Ministry of Economy) suggest that by the end of 2022, 24.6 thousand will be provided with broadband Internet (an increase of 1.4 thousand year on year). The Ministry of Digital Development proposed to reduce the pace of program implementation in 2022 by 800 settlements.

In a letter, the ministry explained the need to reduce the shortage of imported telecommunications equipment due to sanctions, as well as the need to “search for analogues of equipment, including domestic production.” It was planned to catch up with the backlog in the next two years in order to achieve the result indicated in the current project by the end of 2024 – 26.9 thousand settlements and villages.

In Mintsifra “Kommersant” clarified that the adjustments to the indicators were discussed, but were not accepted. “The current pace of providing villages with communications can be maintained through the sharing of base stations,” the ministry assured. The decision was possible due to the fact that in July the government supported a bill that amends the law “On Communications”. They just assume the joint use by subscribers of different telecom operators of one base station in small towns. “In parallel, the search for reliable partners continues to build new cooperative production chains,” the ministry said.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade does not argue that the departure of foreign companies “made adjustments to the pace of construction of communication networks.” But now, according to the ministry, operators are testing the solutions of domestic manufacturers to provide communication services to small and remote locations. ANO Tsifrovaya ekonomika declined to comment.

After the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine and the subsequent sanctions, Nokia and Ericsson announced the termination of the supply of telecommunications equipment to Russia. In fact, deliveries were also suspended by the Chinese Huawei, but the company still does not explain whether it will continue them. The production of base stations in Russia has not yet been established. Spectra (a subsidiary of Rostec, acts as the executor of the roadmap for the development of 5G in Russia), as well as Yadro Anton Cherepennikov (see Kommersant dated May 19), have such plans.

In Spektra, Kommersant explained that the parameters of the roadmap for the development of fifth-generation communication networks are now being revised, and “the key vector for the development of communication equipment will be aimed at creating 4G base stations that will make it possible to fill the gap and achieve the indicated indicators.” Spectra could not name the start date for the production of Russian base stations. Yadro did not respond to a request.

An interlocutor of Kommersant in a large Russian telecom company says that the deployment of base station production, as a rule, takes a year and a half. “But you can start this stage only if you know what to produce. As far as I know, Russian equipment developers will need at least another two years to create a base station ready for mass production, ”the Kommersant source clarified. According to him, until that moment, the only way out will be to purchase equipment from foreign vendors who will agree to work with Russian companies.

Anastasia Gavrilyuk