Outstretched hand operators – Newspaper Kommersant No. 56 (7501) dated 04/03/2023

The Ministry of Digital Development and telecom operators are discussing the development of new preferences for the telecommunications market, which should be included in the “Strategy for the development of the communications industry until 2035”. Among the requests of the operators themselves, according to Kommersant, are subsidies or other benefits for the purchase of Russian base stations, which, however, are not yet available. Kommersant’s sources are skeptical about the proposals: operators have already received enough preferences, and they will have to buy Russian base stations, regardless of whether there are benefits or not.

“Kommersant” got acquainted with the letter sent on March 14 by Sergey Plugotarenko, CEO of ANO Tsifrovaya ekonomika, to the Ministry of Digital Development. It follows from the document that the ministry, together with telecom operators and manufacturers of telecommunications equipment, is discussing the launch of new measures to support the industry, which will be included in the “Strategy for the development of the communications industry until 2035.”

The interlocutor of Kommersant, who is familiar with the course of the discussion of the strategy, says that the operators are asking the government to develop a mechanism that will speed up the receipt of permits for the construction of infrastructure, and also in the future either subsidize the purchase of domestic base stations, which, however, do not yet exist, or introduce additional tax benefits for their operation.

Back in 2021, part of the support measures that operators are now asking for were adopted and approved in a separate “road map” as part of the second package of support measures for the IT industry, clarifies one of Kommersant’s sources: “The map was developed, signed and approved , but in fact none of the mechanisms did not work. Operators decided to remind Mintsifra of its existence, supplementing it with new ideas.” It is planned to approve the road map before April 28, follows from a letter that Dmitry Kim, Deputy Head of the Ministry of Digital Development, sent to the Ministry of Economy (Kommersant has a copy).

The ANO Tsifrovaya ekonomika emphasized that they are doing “a lot of joint work in the direction of modernizing the regulatory framework.” As part of the development of the industry development strategy, in addition to strategic tasks, it will be important to form a resource base to achieve the goals, VimpelCom noted: “These should be both financial and administrative measures, including those aimed at reducing existing barriers.” The MTS only confirmed that they are participating in the working groups to develop the strategy. In Mintsifra, Rostelecom and MegaFon, Kommersant did not respond.

The government has recently started preparing the “Strategy for the development of the communications industry until 2035”, the first strategic session was held on March 18. Leading mobile operators, as well as Rostelecom, ER-Telecom, Rostec, ICS-Holding and other companies are participating in the work, according to Kommersant. Working groups have been formed in the main areas: Fixed Communications, Mobile Communications, Satellite Communications, Telecommunications Technologies, Scientific Development, Human Resources, Regulatory Regulation, Finance, Cyber ​​Security. A Kommersant source in one of the companies says that work is “in a hurry”: the final version of the strategy needs to be developed by June, and the first version by mid-April, because of which “the quality can suffer greatly.”

Operators “can ask for any new support measures,” including subsidies for the purchase of Russian telecom equipment, but “no one will give them,” said a top manager of a Russian IT company familiar with the course of the strategy discussion. “Telecom today is already the most favored segment with support measures: over the past six years, many acts have been adopted to facilitate the work of operators, to ease the increase in tariffs, etc. No other industry has so many preferences,” he emphasizes.

According to an interlocutor close to the development of the strategy, the only new measure of support that regulators are ready to take is benefits when allocating a frequency range: “It’s simple with equipment: there is no more foreign equipment, at least officially, and Russian will have to be bought anyway, and it is not obvious that it will be so expensive that it will somehow affect the operator’s business.

Nikita Korolev