Subscribers are asked to introduce themselves – Newspaper Kommersant No. 65 (7510) dated 04/14/2023

Large Russian operators are asking subscribers to update their personal data under the threat of limiting communication services. According to Kommersant’s information, such activity is connected with Roskomnadzor’s upcoming inspections in May as part of the fight against gray SIM cards. According to operators, the market now has up to 20 million active subscribers with unconfirmed data, and disabling such a volume of SIM cards can lead to a loss of up to 7 billion rubles. company income on a monthly basis.

Since the beginning of April, Russian mobile operators have begun mass sending out push notifications and SMS to subscribers asking them to confirm their personal data by visiting a communication salon or in the personal account of the State Services application.

According to a Kommersant source on the market, the fact is that in May Roskomnadzor plans to check the current personal data of company subscribers to identify active gray SIM cards.

Roskomnadzor confirmed that the department is “monitoring the accuracy of information about subscribers entered by operators into databases in accordance with the requirements of legislation to combat illegal SIM cards.” For this, an information system has been developed that automatically detects false information about the operators’ clients. If a discrepancy is found in the information about the subscriber, the operator is obliged to “make clarifications or stop providing services to the subscriber.” As Roskomnadzor explained, since 2018, more than 423,000 gray SIM cards have been seized in the course of activities carried out jointly with the Ministry of Internal Affairs, 152,000 of which will be in 2022.

There are now up to 20 million active subscribers with unconfirmed data on the Russian communications market, and the likelihood of encountering a connection disconnection problem can increase dramatically in a month, “that is why there has been more communication with customers,” says Kommersant’s interlocutor in the industry. According to him, the average monthly income (ARPU) from one communication subscriber in Russia is 350 rubles. Thus, operators can lose up to 7 billion rubles per month. He noted that the Roskomnadzor monitoring system also applies to legal entities and individual entrepreneurs.

Interviewed by Kommersant, large Russian operators (MTS, MegaFon, VimpelCom, Tele2) assured that they “responsibly approach the implementation of legal requirements” and regularly carry out the procedure for confirming subscriber data, which over time could become outdated after marriage or upon reaching age of change of passport.

VimpelCom explained that you can confirm your data at Beeline network offices, as well as in a mobile application or in your personal account on the website using your Gosuslug account. Tele2 clarified that the need to report a change in full name or place of residence is established for the subscriber in the rules for the provision of communication services.

According to a representative of MegaFon, work to inform customers about the need to update personal data “has been constantly underway since June 1, 2018.” MTS says that they are conducting explanatory work with customers through various channels “about the need to update such information.”

Communication problems will arise for subscribers who connect phones to strangers, however, operators will not suffer any major losses in the next month, says Alexander Sivolobov, deputy head of the NTI Competence Center based on Skoltech for wireless communication technologies and the Internet of things.

According to the expert, in order for the subscriber base of operators to decrease, at least six months must pass: “During this time, customers disconnected from communication will find out the cause of the problem and fix it by continuing to pay for communication services, and someone will get rid of extra unused SIM cards.” In the last year, the authorities have been “actively putting things in order in the provision of communication services,” Mr. Sivolobov notes. It is not always comfortable for subscribers, he admits, but in general it is a normal practice.

Vadim Krasnikov