Tariffs have been dissolved in Crimea

The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) has begun proceedings with the Crimean telecom operator K-Telecom on the issue of inflated roaming tariffs, which continue to operate in Crimea and Sevastopol for subscribers of Russian operators. The process may become the beginning of mass investigations in the region, experts say, including due to inflated tariffs for backbone data transmission.

The Federal Antimonopoly Service has opened an antimonopoly case against the Crimean telecom operator K-Telecom (operating under the Win mobile brand) due to unreasonably high prices for roaming within the Russian Federation, Kommersant was told in the department. We are talking about the territories of Crimea and Sevastopol, where national roaming is now in effect.

“The weighted average tariffs set by the Crimean company exceeded the cost of services for inter-operator roaming interaction,” the FAS explained. According to the service, this “infringes on the interests of telecom operators that do not provide communication services and do not have their own networks in the Crimea and Sevastopol, as well as their subscribers.” The decrease in roaming rates by the operator will make it possible before the holiday season to reduce tariffs for subscribers to the level applicable throughout the Russian Federation, the FAS calculates.

The initial complaint against the telecom operator was filed by MegaFon and VimpelCom in August last year, interlocutors in the telecom market told Kommersant. In “K-Telecom” did not answer “Kommersant”. MegaFon clarified that the final cost of communication for subscribers in roaming depends on the tariffs of roaming partners. MTS, VimpelCom, Rostelecom and Tele2 declined to comment.

Now the cost of cellular communication and Internet services in the Crimea and Sevastopol for MTS subscribers is 3.5 rubles. per minute and 2.3 rubles. for one message. Mobile traffic – 1 Mb at a cost of 1 rub. For MegaFon subscribers, the subscription fee for 14 days will be 399 rubles, which will cover 60 minutes of calls and 10 GB of Internet. For Beeline subscribers, outgoing calls within Russia will cost 3 rubles. per minute and 2.5 rubles. per message, 1 GB of Internet will cost 200 rubles. in a day. For Tele2 subscribers, outgoing calls cost 3 rubles. per minute, SMS is also 3 rubles, and Internet access costs 3 rubles. per 1 MB of Internet traffic, follows from the data on the operator’s website.

The decision of the Federal Antimonopoly Service should “affect the inflated tariffs” of K-Telecom, Dmitry Petrov, CEO of the St. Petersburg operator Comfortel, believes. Moreover, K-Telecom is not the only one who works in these territories, the top manager emphasizes (Miranda Media, Volna Mobile, Krymtelecom and a number of others also provide services).

Alexander Sivolobov, Deputy Head of the Skoltech-based NTI Competence Center for Wireless Communications and the Internet of Things, believes that the Russian authorities are “building a well-thought-out strategy for the development of telecommunications in Crimea and new regions.” “And this configuration in no way includes the participation of the big four Russian operators,” the expert clarifies. However, he emphasizes, federal regulators “have significant influence on operators, forcing them to compromise and come to agreements, including issues of tariffs and national roaming.”

Dmitry Petrov believes that local telecom operators may also initiate FAS investigations regarding tariffs for backbone IP transit, that is, the cost of Internet in the region.

According to him, now it is 40-45 rubles. Mbit / s – about twice as high as in the neighboring Krasnodar Territory. According to Mr. Petrov, the trial with K-Telecom “may be the beginning of a larger FAS campaign in Crimea and Sevastopol.”

Tatyana Isakova, Timofey Kornev, Yuri Litvinenko