The Ministry of Digital Development has not yet agreed on the criteria by which telecom operators will be exempted from paying for frequencies

Telecom operators will be exempt from paying for frequencies in the regions, where they will build up to four base stations per quarter in remote settlements with a population of up to 1,000 people. This decision was made by the State Commission for Radio Frequencies (SCRF) in the spring behind closed doors and should begin to operate in the third quarter. But Roskomnadzor and the Ministry of Digital Development still cannot agree on the criteria for covering settlements. If these benefits come into effect, the budget will not receive billions of rubles in fees for frequencies, so the process is dragged out, Kommersant’s interlocutors believe.

In accordance with the decision of the State Committee for Radio Frequencies, telecom operators can be exempted from paying for frequencies in regions where they will cover hard-to-reach and small settlements with communication networks, sources in the market told Kommersant. The decision, they specified, was made behind closed doors at the last meeting of the SCRF on April 24. From the website of the Ministry of Digital Development protocol it follows that several decisions of the SCRF were indeed closed for official use.

Yury Zarubin, Deputy Director of the Department for Coordination and Implementation of Digital Economy Projects of the Ministry, spoke back in June 2021 about the fact that the Ministry of Digital Transformation can exempt operators who build infrastructure in hard-to-reach settlements from paying for frequencies.

It is assumed that operators will be able to receive a discount for the use of the spectrum if they are ready to install up to four base stations (BS) per quarter in settlements of up to 1 thousand people, confirmed to Kommersant in the Ministry of Digital Development: “Each region has its own quota for the number of BS from one operator. At the same time, the BS should be able to serve subscribers of other operators. 52 regions have been preliminarily determined.” MTS, MegaFon, Vimpelcom, Tele2 declined to comment.

The decision should come into force from the third quarter, but the process is hindered by Roskomnadzor, which has not yet developed criteria for settlements, coverage of which by communication networks will allow operators to receive benefits, says Kommersant’s interlocutor among telecom operators: “In addition, there is no understanding how many specific BSs need to be built, what territory they should cover. There is also the question of who will confirm that the base station is unique for a particular locality.”

Plans for the installation of BS, agreed with the administrations of the regions, were submitted by the operators to the Ministry of Digital Development in April, but they have not yet been approved.

The Ministry of Digital Development discussed the topic with different parties, but did not receive a unanimous response to the choice of approach, another Kommersant interlocutor adds: “In addition, the cornerstone is the need to conduct some research to get a discount, at the start they were in the ministry’s area of ​​​​responsibility, but then this The task was shifted to the operators. The latter are at a loss as to what and how to investigate and at the same time avoid claims in the future.”

Since 2014, Rostelecom has been implementing the largest project in the Russian Federation for the construction of a telecom infrastructure (eliminating the digital divide) in remote and hard-to-reach settlements. Initially, he assumed the laying of FOCL and the installation of Wi-Fi Internet access points in settlements with a population of 250–500 people. The second part of the project, which started in 2021, expands the list of points at the expense of settlements from 100 people, the organization of access to mobile communication services in settlements where it was not added was added to the project.

If the proposed incentive is actively applied, the budget will not receive significant amounts of fees for frequencies, the interlocutor of Kommersant believes in the market: “It was assumed that, subject to the conditions, operators would be able to receive up to 100% discounts in fees for frequencies in the region. We can actually talk about savings in the billions of rubles for each company participating in the project.”

One of Kommersant’s sources admits that this is why “Roskomnadzor slows down the process.” “It is the regulator that will have to confirm the acceptance of construction,” the interlocutor of Kommersant emphasized.

Roskomnadzor did not respond to Kommersant.

However, the market participants themselves do not have full clarity about the advantages of the project. Operators are experiencing problems with the supply of equipment, notes the interlocutor of Kommersant from among specialized analysts: “Parallel imports have been established, but the problem is that none of the suppliers now guarantees that the vendor will ensure the correct operation of the software.” Therefore, he adds, companies are faced with a dilemma – to apply for an exemption when building a network in a sparsely populated region, where the network, in fact, will not pay off, or to build base stations in large cities, where traffic is growing and demand for services is high.

Julia Silence